That as Obamacare nears we're told that many of these medical procedures are not needed anyway? The listener who shared this with me doesn't think it's coincidence at all. However, I'm not entirely sure the motive here is political. The point here is that use of diagnostic tools can also be abused into pointless pre-emptive strikes:

Studies show that the high cost of U.S. healthcare is driven in large part by prices. American hospitals and doctors charge much more than their international counterparts.

But U.S. physicians also perform many more tests and elective procedures. For example, American doctors order nearly twice as many CT and MRI exams as doctors in other industrialized countries do. They perform more knee replacements and deliver more babies by caesarean section

My experience is the medical profession tends to err to the side of caution when it comes to diagnostic tests. But I believe the truth here lies somewhere in the middle where motive is concerned. With Obamacare coming, cautionary diagnostic procedures may not longer be affordable. But it's also possible they were never a great idea in the first place.