Here's an example of the soon-to-be available personal health monitoring technology in cell phone form factor

Nokia, for its part, is planning to build all kinds of sensors into mobile phones to monitor things like movement, barometric pressure or even the owner’s health, which many experts expect to become a big new trend. Sensors could also be used to record people’s activities, creating what some already term a “lifelog”—raising all kinds of privacy concerns.

Some examples of 'self' monitoring of individual health status

Read this interesting article in the New York Times about how entrepreneurs are developing devices and software and services that will enable individuals to monitor and record their vital health indicators and to offer access to that data to medical service providers.

I believe that a key to the control of costs and to better health is the regular frequent monitoring of vital indicators of every individual. Early recognition and intervention can prevent disease or reduce its impact even if it cannot actually prolong life.

We must develop a system that reduces health monitoring and increases the access to medical technology once a disease is identified.