Tag Archives: health

High cholesterol levels among U.S. adults declining: CDC report

By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The prevalence of U.S. adults with high cholesterol declined significantly between 1999-2000 and 2015-2016, achieving a long-term public health goal, according to data released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The latest survey found that overall 12.4 percent of adults aged 20 and over had high total cholesterol compared with 18.3 percent in 1999-2000. High total cholesterol was defined as above 240 mg/dl in the blood.

High cholesterol is a key risk factor for heart disease, which remains the No. 1 killer in the United States despite dramatic declines in overall numbers in recent decades.

To improve the health of the U.S. population, a program called Healthy People 2020 included a goal of reducing the proportion of adults with high total cholesterol to less than 13.5 percent. Both men and women aged 20 and over met that goal.

The surveys over two-year periods provide a snapshot of health of the U.S. population, Margaret Carroll, lead author of the latest report explained. “It’s good news that total cholesterol is going down.”

Each survey targets a sample of about 5,000 people from counties across the country.

While the report does not explain the positive trend, one answer seemed obvious to Dr. Steven Nissen, chief of cardiology at Cleveland Clinic who was not involved with the CDC report.

“The use of statins has skyrocketed,” said Nissen, referring to widely used cholesterol-lowering medicines such as Pfizer Inc’s Lipitor, AstraZeneca’s Crestor and their generic counterparts that also significantly reduce heart attacks. “My guess is the vast majority of this difference is due to the use of statins.”

Public health measures such as bans on trans-fat foods, as well as individual decisions to alter diet and exercise has also likely helped, Nissen said.

The CDC report also found the prevalence of Americans with levels of “good” HDL considered too low fell from 22.2 percent in 1999-2000 to 18.4 percent as of last year. Levels of HDL are recommended to be at 40 mg/dl or above.

However, raising HDL via medicines, such as niacin, has never shown a correlation with better health outcomes.

The NCHS plans to release data on levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, the prime target of statins, and triglycerides – both components of total cholesterol – later, Carroll said.

In 2015-2016, men aged 40-59 had significantly higher rates of high total cholesterol (16.5 percent) than those aged 20-39 (9.1 percent) or those 60 and over (6.9 percent).

Among women, the 20-39 age range had far lower rates at 6.7 percent, while more than 17 percent had high total cholesterol in the other two age groups.

Race appeared to make no significant difference in high cholesterol rates among men, but Hispanic women had lower rates than non-Hispanic white women – 9 percent versus 14.8 percent – with non-Hispanic blacks and Asians in the middle at 10.3 percent each.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Richard Chang)

Listeria risk prompts Meijer to recall produce in six U.S. states

Listeria risk prompts Meijer to recall produce in six U.S. states

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Retailer Meijer Inc said it was recalling packaged vegetables in six U.S. states because of possible contamination from Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, which can cause fatal food poisoning in young children, pregnant women and elderly or frail people.

Meijer, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said there were no illnesses reported as of Sunday.

The recall affects 35 products and includes vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus as well as party trays sold in Meijer-branded plastic or foam packaging in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin between Sept. 27 and Oct. 20, the company said on Saturday.

In February, Meijer recalled its Meijer-branded Colby and Colby Jack cheese sold through its deli counters because of potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 1,600 people develop a serious form of infection known as listeriosis each year, and 260 die from the disease, making it the third most deadly form of food poisoning in the United States.

“The infection is most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older and people with weakened immune systems,” the CDC said on its website. Symptoms include fever and diarrhea and can start the same day of exposure or as much as 70 days later.

(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Peter Cooney)

Obamacare whiplash leaves states, insurers with dueling price plans

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump smiles after signing an Executive Order to make it easier for Americans to buy bare-bone health insurance plans and circumvent Obamacare rules at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

By Caroline Humer

NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s reversals in the past week on maintaining Obamacare subsidies to insurers are sowing new confusion over what kind of health insurance will be available to consumers, and at what price, when enrollment for 2018 begins in two weeks.

Trump said last week his administration would stop paying billions of dollars in subsidies that help insurers give discounts to low-income households, one of several moves to dismantle the signature healthcare law of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.

Since then, Trump has alternately supported, and dismissed, an effort by Republican and Democratic senators that would reinstate the subsidies for two years, until a broader replacement to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, can be negotiated.

“We are worried that consumers on (Obamacare) plans will be confused by all the back and forth and proposed policy changes and that this will cause them to not seek out assistance,” said Bryna Koch, special projects coordinator at the Arizona Center for Rural Health, which helps consumers choose and sign up for individual health plans offered under Obamacare.

Trump, who promised during his election campaign to repeal and replace Obamacare, which he has called a “disaster,” has said the subsidies amount to a bailout for insurance companies.

By law, health insurers must still offer the discounts on deductibles, co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs, even if the government stops reimbursing them. Insurers say they do not profit from the subsidies.

Anticipating Trump’s move, insurers proposed higher prices on monthly premiums in 2018 to recoup the money. In all but a handful of states, they submitted two sets of premium rates – a lower rate to use if the subsidies remained, and a higher rate to use if the funding was cut.

LAST WORD ON SUBSIDIES?

The fate of the subsidies remained in limbo on Thursday. A senior White House aide said that Trump would demand steps toward repealing Obamacare in any healthcare legislation, comments that cast doubt on the prospects for the bipartisan effort to shore up insurance markets.

A California court is expected to consider on Monday a request by Democratic attorneys general to keep the subsidies flowing until a legal challenge to Trump’s decision is resolved.

If the funding is not restored when 2018 enrollment opens on Nov. 1, many consumers will see premium rates that are on average 20 percent higher than they would have been otherwise.

Even before Trump’s decision on the subsidies, the Congressional Budget Office said the Republican president’s policies to roll back Obamacare enrollment efforts would lead to 4 million fewer people signing up for insurance in 2018 than previously forecast. The CBO still expects 11 million people to sign up for next year – an increase from this year’s enrollment of 10 million.

The federal government has already halted a subsidy payment to the insurance industry for October. But leading insurers are not yet sure whether that is the last word.

Anthem Inc Chief Executive Officer Joseph Swedish told Reuters he could not yet predict how ending the subsidies or restating them through “potential congressional action” would affect pricing next year. Anthem has submitted premium rates that account for the subsidies being cut.

Should the subsidies be restored at any time after Nov. 1, insurers may be able to revert to the lower monthly premium rates, or provide rebates for consumers.

“A midyear change in premiums would be highly unusual, but this would be the right thing to do,” said Marc Harrison, CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, a Utah-based health plan and hospital chain. “Intermountain Healthcare would pursue this.”

Washington state’s insurance regulator said it would allow insurers to change rates as soon as practical – even the next month – if lawmakers reinstate the funding, an approach backed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. But that could run up against federal government objections.

The Affordable Care Act does not allow for changes to premium rates after they have been finalized, an official for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. At the same time, the administration is working to approve higher rates in several states that did not take into account Trump’s cut in subsidies for 2018.

(Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb in Washington; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Peter Cooney)

Michigan to charge state’s top medical official in Flint water deaths

Reuters finds 3,810 U.S. areas with lead poisoning double Flint’s

(Reuters) – Michigan’s top medical official will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for her role in the city of Flint’s water crisis, which was linked to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that caused at least 12 deaths, state prosecutors said on Monday.

Dr. Eden Wells, the state’s chief medical executive who already faced lesser charges, would become the sixth current or former official to face involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the crisis.

The state intends to add involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office to the other charges of obstruction of justice and lying to police that Wells already faces, a spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said.

Jerold Lax, an attorney for Wells, said he first learned of the proposed additional charges at a pre-trial hearing on Monday when special prosecutor Todd Flood announced the state’s intention to file them.

Flood “indicated on the record that he would be providing us some additional information in relation to the charges,” Lax said, adding that he had no further comment.

The charges stem from more than 80 cases of Legionnaires’ disease that were believed to be linked to the water in Flint after the city switched its source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in April 2014.

Wells was among six current and former Michigan and Flint officials charged in June. The other five, including Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, were charged at the time with involuntary manslaughter stemming from their roles in handling the crisis.

Involuntary manslaughter is a felony that carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

In court documents, prosecutors had previously said Wells lied to police about when she became aware of the Legionnaires’ outbreak and that she threatened a team of independent researchers who were studying the source of the disease.

Flood said Monday he was seeking the new charges based on new review of documents and testimony that came out last week, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The crisis in Flint erupted in 2015 when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in the predominantly black city of about 100,000.

The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from pipes and into the drinking water. Lead levels in Flint’s drinking water have since fallen below levels considered dangerous by federal regulators, state officials have said.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Bill Trott and Grant McCool)

Refugees’ health problems in Greece mostly unmet: medical charity

FILE PHOTO: A migrant from Iran stands at the entrance of his tent at the Souda municipality-run camp for refugees and migrants on the island of Chios, Greece, March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

By Karolina Tagaris

ATHENS (Reuters) – Refugees and migrants in Greece receive little or no medical care for most health problems they face and fewer than half of those pregnant had access to maternal care, aid group Doctors of the World said on Tuesday.

About 60,000 migrants and refugees are stranded in Greece, most in overcrowded camps with unsanitary conditions. More than half of this year’s 20,000 arrivals were women and children, United Nations data shows.

Doctors of the World interviewed over 14,000 women treated at its clinics in Greece over three years and found fewer than 47 percent had access to antenatal care before it intervened.

It also found as many as 72 percent of the health problems refugees faced were treated “inadequately” or not at all.

While most countries offer new arrivals some kind of medical screening, the quality was “questionable” and overlooked mental health problems, the charity said.

Often, women did not seek medical care because they were unaware of their rights, they found the healthcare system too complex or they were afraid of being arrested or discriminated against. Limited resources and lack of access to services such as translators also posed practical obstacles.

“Every mother deserves good care before, during and post pregnancy. Their residential status should not affect this basic right,” said Nikitas Kanakis, head of Doctors of the World Greece.

The charity, together with healthcare company MSD, known in the United States as Merck, is implementing a two-year initiative aimed at providing maternal healthcare services to pregnant women and babies from vulnerable populations in Greece.

Asylum seekers in Greece have free access to hospitals and medical care but the public health system, already battered by years of economic crisis, is struggling to cope with the numbers.

Adult migrants without documents only have access to emergency care unless they are considered “vulnerable”.

“Access to quality maternal healthcare can save lives, yet across Europe the most vulnerable pregnant women are still facing challenges in accessing this basic care,” said Mary-Ann Etiebet, director of MSD for Mothers.

A lack of antenatal care to prevent and identify conditions that may harm the fetus or mother increases the risk of complications during childbirth or passing on diseases such as HIV or Hepatitis B, the World Health Organisation says.

“We must work together this address this issue before it escalates further,” Etiebet said.

(The story is refiled to clarify MSD name in paragraph 8)

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Senators close to bipartisan deal on health exchanges: Schumer

FILE PHOTO - Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks with reporters following the party luncheons on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators from both parties are close to finalizing a bipartisan deal to shore up the health insurance exchanges created under Obamacare, the chamber’s top Democrat said on Thursday.

The move, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said was “on the verge” of completion, would stabilize the market for individuals who buy their own insurance plans on the federal or state-based exchanges.

The potential agreement comes after Republicans have repeatedly failed to carry out their years-long pledge to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare overhaul.

Schumer said Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, a Republican, and ranking Democrat Patty Murray had resurrected a bipartisan approach, which had been cast aside amid the latest near-vote on a repeal bill.

Alexander and Murray had been working to protect the government payments made to insurers to help reduce medical expenses for low-income Americans enrolled in Obamacare. Alexander also wanted states to have more flexibility to design insurance plans under the program.

“They both inform me that they’re on the verge of an agreement, a bipartisan healthcare agreement to stabilize markets and lower premiums,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday.

The pact could buoy health insurance companies, which came out forcefully against the Republican repeal effort and have faced uncertainty since the November election of Republican President Donald Trump, who vowed to sink the law.

While the majority of insured Americans receive coverage through their employers or government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, more than 10 million people have individual plans through the online exchanges, and about 11 million are expected to sign up next year.

Most of these consumers receive income-based tax credits and subsidies to reduce costs. Insurers have filed their premium rates for 2018, many of which are expected to rise at least 20 percent because of uncertainty that the government will continue paying some of those subsidies.

Despite those worries, insurers on Wednesday signed contracts with the government that will result in every U.S. county having at least one company selling Obamacare plans.

Trump has signaled that his administration would take other action to unwind the law, and on Wednesday said he would sign an order next week allowing people to buy insurance coverage across U.S. state lines.

Republican Senator Rand Paul, who has been pushing for the move, says Trump can do this by legalizing nationwide health associations that individuals could then join.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Obamacare repeal in U.S. Senate collapses as Republicans falter

Protesters, mostly handicapped, line the hallway outside the Senate Finance Committee hearing room hours ahead a hearing on the latest Republican effort to repeal Obamacare on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Another Republican attempt to dismantle Obamacare collapsed in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday as the party was unable to win enough support from its own senators for a bill to repeal the healthcare reform law.

Several Republican senators said there will be no vote in the Senate after some lawmakers withheld support for the measure.

“We basically ran out of time,” said Senator Ron Johnson.

Senator Pat Roberts, another Republican, told reporters the party would target healthcare “in some form” later in the current legislative session.

Failing to carry through on a 7-year-old effort to roll back the 2010 healthcare law would be an embarrassing setback for Republicans and a heavy blow for President Donald Trump, who vowed during the 2016 election campaign to scrap Obamacare.

After losing a Senate vote on repealing Obamacare in July,

Republicans tried again this month with a bill that would take

federal money and give it to the states in block grants to regulate their own healthcare systems.

But several Republican senators refused to back the latest bill, including Senator Susan Collins, who on Monday complained that it undermined the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled and weakened protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer and diabetes.

Trump said on Tuesday his administration was disappointed in “certain so-called Republicans” who did not support the bill.

Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate and

at least two other Republican senators, John McCain and Rand Paul, had earlier rejected the bill.

Republicans have tried for years to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, but they were up against a Sept. 30 deadline to pass a bill with a simple majority, or face a much tougher path toward dismantling it.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Bill Trott)

Obamacare repeal on the ropes as pivotal Republican rebuffs Trump

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (C) departs after the weekly Republican caucus policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Susan Cornwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Susan Collins rebuffed intense lobbying from fellow Republicans and the promise of money for her state in deciding on Monday to oppose – and likely doom – her party’s last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare.

The most moderate of Republican senators joined John McCain and Rand Paul in rejecting the bill to end Obamacare. It was a major blow for President Donald Trump who has made undoing Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law a top priority since the 2016 campaign and who pressured Collins in a call on Monday.

The bill’s sweeping cut in funding to Medicaid, a program for low income citizens and disabled children, was her top reason for opposing the bill, said Collins, from the state of Maine where 20 percent of the population depend on the program.

“To take a program that has been law for more than 50 years, and make those kinds of fundamental structural changes … and to do so without having in depth hearings to evaluate the impact on our most vulnerable citizens was unacceptable,” Collins said outside the Senate chambers.

She also opposed the bill for weakening protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer and diabetes.

Collins’ decision came even after the sponsors of the bill, Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, offered a boost in federal health care funds of 43 percent for Maine and benefits for states with other undecided senators.

Republicans have vowed to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, since it was passed in 2010. While it extended health insurance to some 20 million Americans, they believe it is an unwarranted and costly government intrusion into healthcare, while also opposing taxes it imposed on the wealthy.

Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate and are up against a tight September 30 deadline to pass a bill with a simple majority, instead of the 60-vote threshold needed for most measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to hold a vote this week, but it is not clear he will do so now that three senators have said they will cast “no” votes.

Graham dismissed notions that the bill was the last chance for Republicans to get rid of Obamacare and pledged to keep working on the legislation.

$1 TRILLION CUT TO MEDICAID

Democrats kept up their pressure for killing the bill. In an evening speech on the Senate floor, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, “The Trumpcare bill would gut Medicaid, would cause millions to lose coverage, cause chaos in the marketplace.”

Schumer said once repeal of Obamacare is off the table, Democrats want to work with Republicans “to find a compromise that stabilizes markets, that lowers premiums.”

Collins and McCain, who voted against the last major repeal effort in July, have both advocated for a bipartisan solution to fixing the parts of Obamacare that do not function well.

U.S. hospital stocks were down across the board as the bill struggled. Shares of HCA Healthcare Inc and Tenet Healthcare Corp were hit particularly hard, falling 2.5 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, on Monday.

“The Graham-Cassidy bill is looking to reduce funding for Medicaid in the longer term,” said Jefferies analyst Brian Tanquilut. “That is a benefit that we have seen improve the earnings outlooks for these hospitals.”

Collins announced her opposition shortly after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that the number of people with health insurance covering high-cost medical events would be slashed by millions if it were to become law.

CBO also found that federal spending on Medicaid would be cut by about $1 trillion from 2017 to 2026 under the Graham-Cassidy proposal, and that millions of people would lose their coverage in the program, mainly from a repeal of federal funding for Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.

The Trump administration, including Health Secretary Tom Price had lobbied her hard in recent days, Collins said.

“The president called me today, the vice president called me in Maine over the weekend, Secretary Price has called me, it would probably be a shorter list of who hasn’t called me about this bill,” she said.

Trump had not called Collins before the vote in July.

PROTESTERS IN WHEELCHAIRS

The Senate held its first hearing all year on the proposed Obamacare repeal on Monday, but it was immediately disrupted by protesters who forced Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch to postpone its start by about 15 minutes.

Police arrested 181 demonstrators, including 15 in the hearing room. The protesters, mainly from a disability rights group and many of whom were in wheelchairs, were forcibly removed one-by-one from the hearing room as they yelled, “No cuts to Medicaid, save our liberty.” The hearing eventually proceeded for about five hours, but protests could be heard outside for more than an hour.

Television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who had become part of the debate on U.S. healthcare legislation in May after discussing his newborn son’s heart surgery, had taken aim at the bill in recent days. On Monday he tweeted: “Thank you @SenatorCollins for putting people ahead of party. We are all in your debt.”

A new CBS poll released on Monday said that a majority of Americans, or 52 percent, disapprove of the Graham-Cassidy bill, while 20 percent approve. The poll was taken between Sept. 21 and 24.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner, Philip Stewart, Makini Brice, Amanda Becker and Alistair Bell in Washington and Caroline Humer in New York; writing by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Bill Trott and Mary Milliken)