Previous Medical News
2010/03/27
1. How Health Care Reform Will Affect You (Multiple Sources, 3/21/10)
Health care reform will affect your wallet and your health care. There will be fines for those who fail to carry health insurance. In 2015 the fine will be the greater of $325 or two percent of income. By 2016, it will be the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of income. Flexible spending accounts will be capped at $2,500/year in 2013. $500 billion is cut from Medicare over 10 years and there are major cuts in Medicare Advantage.
There is a mandate for comparative effectiveness research. The overhaul creates an institute, funded with $500 million or more annually, to spur studies of which drugs, devices and medical procedures that work best. The boost for comparative-effectiveness research will increase scrutiny on treatments used by millions of Americans.
The bill also creates an “independent payment advisory board” to decide which treatments Medicare should pay for and contains prohibitions on physician-owned hospitals.
Higher taxes will be part of the health care mix: John Deere and Caterpillar announced that healthcare reform would cost each of them in excess of $100 million. AT&T recorded a $1 billion expense related to the newly passed healthcare law. The new healthcare law eliminated a tax deduction that companies used to cut the cost of drug-benefit programs for retired workers.
In 2013 there will be an increase Medicare wage tax by 0.9% and impose a new 3.8% tax on investment income (dividends and interest) including annuities for those earning over $200k (individual filing) $250k (joint filing) not indexed to inflation.
There is no tort reform to reduce legal and defensive medicine costs. The bill will increase the cost of insurance especially for young people to cover the cost of elimination of pre-existing conditions and providing uncapped lifetime benefits.
There will be longer waits for the doctor and it will be harder to find a doctor. There will be a new 5% tax on plastic surgery procedures.
2. Up to One-third of breast cancer is avoidable (European breast cancer conference in Barcelona, 3/25/10)
Up to a third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women ate less, exercised more, didn’t smoke and drank less alcohol. Better treatments, early diagnosis and mammogram screenings have dramatically slowed breast cancer but further significant prevention will come from lifestyle changes.
3. Pig Virus DNA Found in Rotavirus Vaccine (FDA, 3/22/10)
GlaxoSmithKline's Rotarix rotavirus vaccine contains DNA from an apparently harmless pig virus. The FDA estimates that 1 million U.S. kids have received the Rotarix vaccine. There is an alternative Rotavirus vaccine available: the three-dose RotaTeq vaccine, made by Merck, which was approved in 2006.
4. Low Vitamin D Levels Tied to Incontinence (Obstetrics & Gynecology, 4/10)
Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to pelvic floor disorders in women. Not getting enough vitamin D may cause women problems in the bathroom as well as with their bones. Pelvic floor disorders include: urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence.
5. Pregnancy May Protect Breast Cancer Survivors (European Breast Cancer Conference, in Barcelona, 3/25/10)
Women who become pregnant after having had breast cancer may actually improve their survival odds.
6. Infertility linked to prostate cancer (Cancer, 3/22/10)
Infertility increases the risk that a man will develop the aggressive, potentially fatal form of prostate cancer.
7. For women, battle of bulge just got tougher: Exercise 1 Hour a Day to Avoid Weight Gain (Journal of the American Medical Association, 3/24/10)
Women need to get at least an hour a day of moderate exercise if they hope to ward off the creep of extra pounds that comes with aging. Current guidelines recommend only 2 ½ hours of moderate exercise/week -- brisk walking, gardening, ballroom dancing -- as a way to improve overall health. If people exercise vigorously, by running or cycling hard, for instance, less time is needed to get the same benefits.
8. FDA Panel: Restrict Tanning Beds (FDA, 3/25/10)
According to an FDA advisory panel, the FDA should keep children and teens from using tanning beds -- or at least make sure their parents have signed a consent form warning of tanning-bed dangers.
9. Light Drinking Good for the Heart (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 3/23/10)
Two large new studies add weight to a growing body of evidence that light-to-moderate drinking may have a protective effect on the heart and prevent heart-related deaths.
10. Obesity accelerates liver damage in heavy drinkers (BMJ, 3/22/10)
Obesity compounds the harmful effects of heavy drinking on the liver.
11. Optimism May Boost Immune System (Psychological Science, 3/10)
There’s a link between attitude and disease. An optimistic outlook might strengthen your body's ability to fight off infection. When people feel more optimistic, they also feel more happy, attentive and joyous. Happier or more positive, hopeful people tend to live healthier. Hopeful people may react in healthier ways to stress, helping them to recover more quickly. More positive individuals are also more likely to adhere to medical therapy and advice, and therefore may be healthier on that basis.
12. Sex virus blamed for rise in head and neck cancers (BMJ, 3/22/10)
The number of head and neck cancers linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV) which is spread by oral sex is rising rapidly and suggests boys as well as girls should be offered protection through vaccination. Despite an overall slight decline in head and neck cancers in recent years, cases of a particular form called oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have increased sharply, particularly in the developed world. Two vaccines against HPV are currently available: Cervarix and Gardasil.
13. Refusing to Vaccinate Affects Other Kids, Too (Pediatrics, 4/10)
A measles outbreak in San Diego was fueled by kids whose parents refused to vaccinate them, thus endangering children too young to be vaccinated. Pockets of parents believe the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine is more dangerous than the diseases. The shot is generally administered to children around the age of one year, with a second dose before starting school (i.e. age 4/5).
14. What Motivates Kids Who Are Bullies? (Child Development, March/April, 2010)
Many bullies are actually popular kids who raise their social standing by picking on others. They choose generally unpopular victims to avoid losing social status.
15. The more kids, the lower moms' suicide risk (Canadian Medical Association Journal, 3/22/10)
Looking at 30 years' worth of data on 1.3 million Taiwanese mothers revealed that women with two children were 39 percent less likely than those with one child to commit suicide. That risk was 60 percent lower among women with three or more children. Women with a large brood of children benefit from greater emotional or material support when times are tough. Women who have several children also spend a larger share of their lives caring for young children compared with mothers who have one child; mothers who feel "needed," may be less vulnerable to suicide.
16. Recall: 1 Million Infantino Baby Slings Recalled After 3 Infants Died (Consumer Product Safety Commission, 3/24/10)
More than 1 million baby slings made by Infantino were recalled after claims linking them to three infant deaths. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said babies could suffocate in the soft fabric slings. The agency urged parents to immediately stop using the slings for babies under 4 months. The recall involves 1 million Infantino "SlingRider" and "Wendy Bellissimo" slings in the United States and 15,000 in Canada. The slings wrap around the chest so on-the-go parents can carry their babies or just stay close as they bond with their infants.
