MichaelBishop comments on Action vs. inaction - Less Wrong

7 Post author: PhilGoetz 30 November 2009 06:10PM

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Comment author: MichaelBishop 04 December 2009 05:59:01PM 2 points [-]
Comment author: PhilGoetz 01 September 2010 03:29:57AM 0 points [-]

It says:

By the USPSTF's estimates, it takes 1,904 women in their 40s being screened for a decade to save the life of one woman whose cancer would have gone undetected. As science journalist Merrill Goozner observes, that means that it costs as much as $20 million – not counting the interventions for false-positive results – for every life saved by regular mammograms for women in their 40s.

That's 19,040 mammograms for $20m, or about $1000/mammogram. Which is wrong. Mammograms cost about $100 for the uninsured.