Monthly Archive for August, 2008

Pregnancy no longer means no exercise

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Jana
on August 30, 2008
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Watch any old 50’s or 60’s sitcom and you see the husband panic upon hearing the news of his wife’s pregnancy. It’s always sit down, don’t strain yourself and get some rest, but now it has been shown that exercise during pregnancy can keep your muscles in shape and your heart strong. According to the people at Discovery Health, it also helps relieve some of the common discomforts of pregnancy like achy legs and morning sickness.

Members of the Dallas Running Club were asked how they stayed, or are staying in shape while pregnant. Here are some of their tips, but first and foremost, check with your doctor first!-Dallas Morning News

  1. Redefine your fitness goals while pregnant. Trying to lose weight and pushing yourself too hard are just out of the question.
  2. Try to begin an exercise program before you become pregnant. Once you are in a routine, your body can recover much better after the birth process.
  3. Make sure you pay attention to your body’s signals. Your muscles and joints will change position with your growing belly, and this makes you more vulnerable to injury.
  4. Don’t use your heart rate to track your progress, because it is already higher during pregnancy. Just exercise at a comfortable level for your body. If you can carry on a conversation during the activity, you should be fine.
  5. Try to concentrate on what you are able to do, not what you could do before pregnancy. Don’t worry, you will get back to normal after the baby comes.  Just being able to walk a little each day will be great for you and the baby!

Less Americans without health coverage

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Jana
on August 28, 2008
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For the first time in seven years, the amount of people in the U.S. without health coverage fell in 2007. The number of uninsured fell from 47 million in 2006 to 45.7 million last year, mainly because of more government coverage. That is 15.3% of the population, which was formerly 15.8%.

Devon Herrick, health economist for the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis, says some of the 18 million of the uninsured make over $50,000 yearly and most likely could afford insurance. “About 32 million people, or 70% of the uninsured, could easily obtain coverage,” Herrick said.

Some of the uninsured aren’t U.S. citizens. They account for 21% or 9.7 million of the uninsured. A lot of people who decide not to obtain health insurance are young, healthy people. Those 18-34 year olds account for 39%, or 18.2 million.

These uninsured numbers count anyone who does not have health coverage at anytime during the year. This includes people who are in between jobs. 

The chronically uninsured, between 10 and 15 million are uninsured because they just don’t qualify for coverage.

There wasn’t much change in the amount of insured last year concerning employer-sponsored coverage.  More people enrolling in government health care programs caused most of the rise.

The amount of people with health coverage has risen by about 16 million since 1999, mostly due to government programs.

“This shows a startling trend toward more government insurance.” said Greg D’Angelo, who is a policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “The improvement this year was driven by expansions of Medicaid and SCHIP and the aging of the popullation. This is a wake-up call, that we need to transition to a system tying coverage to the person, not to the job or government.”

The current presidential campaign reveals these basic differences. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wants to change the employer-sponsored system by providing each individual and family a tax credit for purchasing health insurance. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., wants to broaden the employer market with tax breaks for covering workers. Widening government-provided coverage is also on his agenda.

Premiums for private health insurance has risen about 10% yearly, since 2000, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That accounts for more than three times the rate of inflation.

Insurers may be allowed to remove contraception from coverage plans

Published
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Jana
on August 26, 2008
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The front page of the Washington Post (8/22, A1, Stein) reads,”The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs.”

If the new rule is established, federal health officials will be allowed “to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospital clinics, health plans, doctors’ offices and other entities if they do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable on personal, moral, or religious grounds.” 

People for and against the rule “said the regulation remains broad enough to protect pharmacists, doctors, nurses and others from providing birth control pills, Plan B emergency contraception, and explicitly allows workers to withhold information about such services and refuse to refer patients elsewhere.”

According to the Wall Street Journal (8/22, A3, Simon), “it is unclear how many women might be affected if the regulation takes effect as written. Catholic hospitals account for more than 10 percent of the nation’s emergency rooms, and many would like to be freed from state mandates requiring them to offer emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault.” Also, if “state laws requiring insurance companies to cover contraception” are allowed to expire, it is not clear “whether those insurers would remove birth control from their coverage plans.” Patients can still get any legal procedure, but the new rule may make those procedures harder to get, according to Mike Leavitt, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Abortion foes called it a victory for the First Amendment, but abortion rights supporters said they feared the rule could stretch the definition of abortion to include birth control, and served notice that they intend to challenge the administration,” the AP (8/22 Alonso-Zaldivar) reads. Leavitt said, “This regulation is not about contraception, it is very closely focused on abortion and physician’s conscience.”

Bloomberg (8/22, Marcus) says that “while the rule refers specifically to abortions, it also covers those who refuse to offer other services or procedures for which they have a religious or moral objection.”

Arsenic may be linked to type 2 diabetes

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Jana
on August 24, 2008
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A new study of government data is the first to link low-level level arsenic exposure to type 2 diabetes, most likely from drinking water.

The results of 788 adults’ medical tests showed a nearly fourfold increase in the threat of diabetes in people with low arsenic concentrations in their urine when compared with people showing even lower levels.

Past research outside the U.S. has shown large levels of arsenic in drinking water to increase the risk for diabetes. The link at low levels is what’s new.

The Journal of the American Medical Association has printed the findings in the August 20, 2008 issue.

Lead author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore said “The good news is, this is preventable.” “Since we already have a safety standard for arsenic levels in drinking water and we know drinking water is the main source of exposure, it’s important to reduce arsenic levels in drinking water where it exists,” said Navas-Acien.

New and safer drinking water standards  may be needed if new findings are similar in future studies. A new study of 4,000 people has begun.

It is known that arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from copper smelting and coal burning. Utilities use filtration systems to filter it out of drinking water.

Non-toxic organic arsenic is also found in seafood. Analysis was adjusted by the researchers for signs of seafood intake and it was found that people with type 2 diabetes had 26 percent higher inorganic arsenic levels than people without type 2 diabetes.

It is unkown how arsenic, once used as a powerful rat poison, could contribute to diabetes, but past studies have shown abnormal secretion in pancreas cells that were treated with an arsenic compound.

According to Molly Kile, an environmental health research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, arsenic in urine reveals exposures from all areas – air, food and water, so it is hard to trace the exact source of arsenic exposure and use these findings to establish drinking water standards.

She said it is unknown whether diabetes changes the way people metabolize arsenic. People with diabetes may even excrete more arsenic.

In 2001, the U.S. lowered arsenic standards for public water systems to 10 parts per billion because of known cancer risks. Compliance was required by 2006, after the results were collected in 2003 and 2004.

More research is necessary because of the study’s limitations. Public water systems are already in the process of meeting stricter U.S. arsenic standards.

Medicare officials claim anti-fraud program results were misleading

Published
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Jana
on August 24, 2008
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The front page of the New York Times (8/21, A1, Duhig) reads, “Medicare’s top officials said in 2006 that they had reduced the number of fradulent and improper claims paid by the agency, keeping billions of dollars out of the hands of people trying to game the system. But according to a confidential draft of a federal inspector general’s report, those claims of success, which earned Medicare wide praise from lawmakers, were misleading.”

Administrators from Medicare “told outside auditors to ignore government policies that would have accurately measured fraud,” ending in a failure to “detect that more than one-third of spending for wheelchairs, oxygen supplies, and other medical equipment in its 2006 fiscal year was improper… That same year, Medicare officials told Congress that they had suceeded in driving down the cost of fraud in Medicare equipment to $700 million.” Because of these findings, “Congress might push for an investigation into the private company that was hired to fulfill Medicare’s auditing program.” according to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).

Chemical in baby bottles declared safe

Published
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Jana
on August 19, 2008
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On Friday, August 16, federal regulators claimed a chemical used in baby bottles, canned foods and other items is not dangerous. The small amounts of bisphenol A that are linked to food containers are not dangerous to infants or adults, according to the Food and Drug Administration scientists.

According to the agency, more research is needed to know how the chemicals affect people and it said “there are always uncertainties associated with safety decisions.” Earlier the FDA claimed that the chemical was safe, but has said they will look into the matter more because a report done by the federal National Toxicology Program said there was “some concern” about the threat to infants.

BCBS of New Jersey Applies to Become For-Profit

Published
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Jana
on August 19, 2008
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Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state’s largest health insurer, has applied to become a for-profit corporation according to New Jersey’s Star Ledger (8/17, McNichol). After establishing itself as a for-profit corporation, Blue Cross hopes to “generate at least $1 billion for the state to support insurance subsidies and public healthcare improvements” and to compete with other insurers by raising funds through stock sales.  After the application is approved, “Blue Cross proceeds from the first sale of stock must be deposited in a public foundation set up to bankroll insurance affordability initiatives and public health programs.”

Blue Cross predicts that “investment during the next five years will exceed its annual $35 million budget by an estimated $20 million to $30 million per year,” according to Modern Healthcare (8/16, Evans). Today, the insurer “holds 46 percent of New Jersey’s market.”

Moisturizers may increase risk of skin cancer

Published
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Jana
on August 17, 2008
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lotion on finger.inline.jpgPeople all over the world use moisturizers to protect their skin, but according to a recent study, these lotions should be tested for cancer risk. This study, held by the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, suggests that moisturizing lotions such as Eucerin and Dermabase may increase the risk of getting skin cancer. Similar effects were found with the lotions Dermovan and Vanicream.

This study, released August 15, found that mice exposed regularly to ultraviolet light and rubbed with these creams, had skin tumors that grew quicker and more numerous than the animals that were not moisturized.

Many of these creams contain mineral oil, which has been associated with tumor formation, and sodium lauryl sulfate, has been known to cause irritation. When the researchers tested a lotion absent of these two ingredients, provided by Johnson & Johnson, it did not show an increase in tumor risk or growth.

In the study, ultraviolet light was used on hairless mice twice a week for 20 weeks, which raised their likeliness of developing tumors. Then the mice were applied with skin creams once a day, five days a week, for 17 weeks. In numerous cases, the moisturized mice had twice as many tumors.

The authors have concluded that more studies are necessary to confirm the impact of the use of moisturizing creams on the risk of sunlight-induced skin cancer in people.