( CNN ) I usually think of April as tax month , but it seems to be morphing into National Get Tested Month . Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban advised Twitterers to have their blood tested for everything available -- and to do so every three months . Following her mother 's cancer diagnosis , singer Taylor Swift urged her fans to remind their parents to get screening tests . And Arizona Gov . Doug Ducey signed legislation to allow Arizonans to get any lab test without a doctor 's order . Freedom of information -- always sounds like a good thing . But there are many lab tests to order on yourself : Medicare 's Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Fee Schedule lists over a thousand . They are not all blood tests , but a lot of them are . And since blood tests require blood , you would surely develop at least one medical problem if you actually followed Mr. Cuban 's advice to get them all : anemia . A frothy private sector is gearing up to serve the `` test me '' market . In those states that allow it -- and over half do -- laboratories are offering walk-in and online services to individuals who want to check their own lab values . ( And if you want to get in on the ground floor of this business , check out the franchise opportunities at Any Labtest Now , Fastest Labs , and All Labtests Fast . ) Some might argue that this freedom to test is the path to a healthier society . But the primary effect wo n't be more health , but rather more medical care . Fundamentally well people will appear in doctors ' offices with `` abnormal '' results . Abnormalities are common in normal people , as we learned when Whole-body CT scanning was in vogue a decade ago ( thankfully , only briefly ) . So doctors will increasingly face one of two options : take the time to reassure these new patients that their results are n't really that abnormal or chase down abnormal results with more testing . Further testing will often make clear that the initial results were false alarms . Or it will confirm the presence of abnormality -- most of which will be minor abnormalities . Often it wo n't be clear what to do , but doctors will be pressed to do something . That 's when the real problems begin . Will anybody be helped ? Maybe . Will anybody be hurt ? Definitely . The disturbing truth is that it is hard for us to make well people feel better . But it 's not that hard for us to make them feel worse . Decades of research have shown that there are real side-effects to testing the well : more anxiety ( that ca n't be good for your health ) , more procedures ( which often involve needles , pain and can even lead to complications like collapsed lungs ) and more treatment for `` disease '' not destined to cause problems ( as in over a million additional American men treated for prostate cancer , ditto women for breast cancer ) . To see how far wrong testing can go , check out South Korea : where ultrasound screening has increased the amount of thyroid cancer -- and thyroid cancer surgery -- by 15-fold . I can tell you one thing for sure , the freedom to test wo n't save money . Sure , a competitive market will drive down prices for individual tests . But advertising will drive up the volume of testing . And then there are all the office visits and subsequent testing for the abnormal results . This will cost people real money -- either in terms of higher insurance premiums or higher out-of-pocket costs . Maybe this kind of freedom of information is n't such a good thing . Of course , there have been genuine advances in diagnostic testing . Diagnostic tests can be extremely useful in sorting out acute medical problems . But if you feel well , do n't think that testing will make you feel better . The biotech sector is excited about testing well people -- it 's a huge market -- and is developing lots of new product . Now you can sequence your DNA , soon you will be able to monitor your immune system 's signature . Now you can monitor your vital signs on your smartwatch , soon you will be able to test your breath for lung cancer on a phone app . They are even implanting thermodynamic sensors in a bra to test for breast cancer . A breast cancer monitoring bra -- I ca n't make this stuff up . Should we outlaw an individual 's freedom to test ? No . We do n't need another victimless crime . But it is certainly an area that demands regulation . The Food and Drug Administration has a longstanding mandate to protect us from snake oil treatments . Now it needs to start worrying about snake oil testing . It 's also an area that demands education . The public needs to know that while medical data can be very useful , that does n't mean they are routinely useful . Abnormalities in sick patients mean something different than the same abnormalities in well people . It is easier to collect data than it is to know what the data mean -- much less what to do about the results . Freedom is a good thing . But feel free not to exercise your freedoms . Just as carrying a gun does n't necessarily make you any safer , testing yourself does n't necessarily make you any healthier .
Mark Cuban said people should have their blood tested every quarter . Gilbert Welch : Giving people more tests will increase health spending , but it wo n't make us healthier .