How Much is the iWatch Worth if it Predicts a Heart Attack?

I don’t care if the Apple iWatch comes with a $1K price tag if it predicts a heart attack or comes with Dick Tracy.  And I am floored about all the complaints from everyone about the 1K or more price tag IF it does do heart attacks. (Dick Tracy, not so worth 1k.)

To get to the bottom of this I’d have to examine the mentality of people that think out of touch medical care from Obama does anything but raise the cost of health care even more.  Free mammograms? Really? This is a good thing? Ok, let’s not go there – just take your anti-oxidants 60 minutes before they radiate your breasts and break your DNA. Your tax dollars paid for space scientists to prove radiation is carcinogenic and cumulative, but for some reason, this goes in one ear and out the other. See them with their DNA tests that proves the damage: EXOGEN

So, what do we have today that will predict a heart attack?  Nothing. But we could see a window into probability by going through the following steps: pay for insurance, pay for doctor visit, pay for blood tests, go back to doctor, pay for doctor, get on drugs that cause major damage (statins) , go back to doctor, get sent to nutritionist, get more blood tests, blah, blah…BTW, your doctor is paid to tell you to stop smoking. So, the cost of  predicting a heart attack is..well, no one can do it, so the costs are never ending because they keep doing the wrong things expecting a crystal ball answer. But if you have a really educated (not just trained) doctor, you just might get the right blood test.

This is it: (from plactest.com)

Lp-PLA₂ Activity is a Unique Marker
The PLAC Test for Lp-PLA₂ Activity helps predict risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease through a simple blood test.  It measures the enzyme activity of Lp-PLA₂ (lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A₂), a vascular-specific inflammatory marker produced by macrophages and implicated in the formation of rupture-prone plaque.  The majority of all heart attacks and strokes are caused by plaque rupture and thrombosis (clots) – not stenosis (narrowing of arteries).

The PLAC Test Helps Identify Hidden Risk
Lp-PLA₂ is an independent risk marker to be used in conjunction with clinical evaluation and patient risk assessment as an indicator of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Published data suggests patients with higher values of Lp-PLA₂ have an increased risk for CVD. In the Lancet 2010 published meta-analysis, a 10% increase risk for CHD per SD increase of Lp-PLA₂ activity was comparable to the risk profile of 2 well established risk markers, non-HDL cholesterol and blood pressure.

 

The cost, I don’t know for you.  It is $175.00 at Life Extension or $93 if you are a member.  Your lab and or doctor will  of course have its own price. This price is when you want to order it on your own, go through Life Extension and use Lab Corps for the blood draw.  I checked with Theranos, the discount blood labs, and they don’t even offer it. see our posts on Theranos, The Almost Great Palo Alto Start Up.

If you want you can keep spending health care dollars over and over and over and over – Obamacare, boutique MD’s, private lab tests, more lab tests, and I suspect you’ve spent 1K in a nanosecond.

Or, you could wear your iMED or iCU (my suggested names) aka iWatch and be told when the heart attack is coming.  Am I suggesting this take the place of blood tests? Of course not. Take the place of a doctor? Don’t get me going on that one.

Health care is redundant, expensive, outdated, and often a disaster.  Now that it is in the hands of the government, it is more redundant, expensive, outdated and disastrous.

Personal note to APPLE: my father died at 58 of a heart attack. His brother died on the beach of a heart attack (age unknown).  And my PLAC test numbers aren’t very good – only good news is high HDL but that may be meaningless with my PLAC numbers. So, get that heart attack thing on your iThing and put a 1K price tag on it if that is what it takes and when it saves lives, maybe insurance will pay for it if we can’t get rid of insurance first. (Yes, I am a dreamer – but so is Project X at Google with Calico. I’m ready.)

So, hell, yes, Tim et al,  I want the $1000 thing that tells me if a heart attack is coming.

The rest of you can wear your Timex or Rolex and pay your insurance and co-pays and drug bills and lab tests and doctor visits.

And you have sleep researchers working on this thing? Ok, I need it yesterday.