Whoever decides, it's the consumer who will get caught in the middle! I think we do need a set of national guidelines for insurance companies, but I would like to see them remain privately owned. Patients should not be able to ask for any test just because they want it and expect insurance to pay for it, but patients are also consumers and should be knowledgeable about tests that are available to them. If a patient feels a certain test might help, he's always free to suggest it to his doctor, or go to another doctor if the first refuses it to them.

I think doctors should be able to order any test they think is helpful to evaluate or treat the patient's condition, but I can understand why insurance companies want to keep costs down. It's become a vicious cycle; once people started having good medical insurance then fraud became an issue, so natually insurance companies put linmits and restrictions on what they'll pay for. It would be nice if patients' doctors and insurance companies could work together for the benefit of the patient, and patients wouldn't have to fight with the insurance company to pay for tests that the doctor feels are vital.

The individual should decide what tests he/she deems necessary and by virtue of that get. This does not mean that the insurance company should pay for every test that the patient wants.

I do not know when the concept of health INSURANCE came to be viewed as one's health treatment plan.

An insurance company is a business, they are basically purchasing risk in the process helping individuals offset their own risk and earning profit for themselves in the process. As such, the insurance company should determine what it will pay for and under what circumstances. The patient should be prepared to pay for that which an insurance plan will not offset, but they want or otherwise deem necessary.

This is why individuals should learn from the earliest moments of their adult existence that they should be responsible for their own health care, such as their own food, clothing and shelter. That the final risk is their own. If they engage in risky health behavior, there may be a price further down the road. If there is a history of disease in a family, save for that eventuality; don't be so eager to assign money as discretionary without first thinking ahead. They should learn that an insurance company is there, not to assume the responsibility of their health and well being, but merely as a method to offset the risk of certain higher end health costs.

Playing a ping-pong game of one day health care being the insurance companies' responsibility, and the next day its the government's responsibility, and back again; while never recognizing that health care is not a supreme individual right, but rather a supreme individual responsibility, places every individual at greater risk.

So many questions so little money. With the new health insurance overhaul the changes that happen wont make anyone happy. Lets look at what we have already. If your in the hospital and are insured their is still a cap on what insurances will pay for. Let me explain it better If you go to the hospital for lets say a broken toe. During that stay you needed a treatment for a new onset of breathing problems your insurance company may not pay for those treatments because your addmitting diagnosis did not include respiratory problems. So any treatments you received will come out of pocket. Now the government has these rules set for all programs they have running now. So going back to who will pay for all those "needed" test. If the governmant runs the healthcare system then all costs will be split among all the taxpayers. The down side to that is who will run those tests and what quality standards to they have to adhear to? You cant sue the government espically if your getting"FREE" care. Their is no ultimate solution for the services/ cost equation. As the doctor you put years into your education to make decisions that would help the outcome of the patient. The insurance company is just that a (company) buisness, they have overhead and investers they have to ansure to. If the patient were to ask for any test they wanted how would they know what to do after they received the results? Simple common sence will be the foundation for what is needed to help the current status of health care.