News - Is costlier spinal surgery worth it?

[sahuaro]

I think some background and perspective--including political--are needed here.
Dr. Deyo is trained in internal medicine--not neurology, not neurosurgery, not orthopedic spine surgery. He has waged a campaign against spine surgery for years and has worked with managed care panels to "study" the cost of spinal surgery. That doesn't mean necessarily that he doesn't make some good points, but as we all know, the aim of HMO's is to save money by denying treatment (to put it bluntly). I am very frightened by his now saying that Medicare is wasting money by covering spine surgeries and see this as the beginning of restricted health care under the new health plan.

BTW, I am doing very well with my Prestige-ST ADR and am very grateful for the surgery--for which we had to pay out of pocket.