THIS IS SO WRONG! Health care rationing has ramped up a notch! It's no secret that California is is deep financial trouble, but is this the way to "save" money? I don't think so. They have changed their guidelines for mammograms for women in their "Every Woman Counts" breast cancer program. They have raised the screening age to fifty. The changes are said to be due to the unprecedented fiscal challenges resulting from increasing demand for breast cancer screening services and declining state tobacco tax revenues, the primary funding source for the program.
So smokers are being blamed for this change? Now I don't advocate smoking, but I think it is wrong to target one group as punishment for the failure of tax revenues. It will cost the state much more in health care costs not to catch breast cancer in a treatable stage in women in their forties, not to mention the pain, suffering, and increased deaths when the technologies are right there and available. 
 What do you think about this issue? Feel free to comment below.