White House Orders Insurers to Help Ease Medicare Drug Plan Woes
Widespread problems with the new Medicare drug plan have prompted the Bush administration to tell insurers that they must provide a 30-day supply of any drug that a Medicare beneficiary was previously taking and that poor people can't be charged more than $5 for a covered drug, The New York Times reported.
Tens of thousands of people are unable to get medicines promised by Medicare, and several states have declared public health emergencies since the new drug plan went into effect at the start of the year. A number of states have said they will pay for prescription drugs that should have been covered by the federal Medicare program.
Problems with the new program have prompted severe criticism of the federal government, The Times reported.
The glitches include: insurers who say they aren't able to identify poor people entitled to extra help with their drug costs; people who signed up for coverage and then found they weren't on the government's list of subscribers; pharmacists who have to spend hours on the telephone trying to reach insurance companies that administer the drug benefit under contract to Medicare.
The White House sent a notice to all Medicare drug plans over the weekend. It told them they must take immediate action to ensure that low-income beneficiaries were not charged more than $2 for a generic drug or more than $5 for a brand-name drug.
The directive also said insurers must provide a 30-day emergency supply of drugs that beneficiaries were taking prior to the start of the new Medicare drug plan, The Times reported.
Gene Variation Linked to One-Fifth of Type 2 Diabetes Cases
Variations of a newly identified gene may play a role in about 21 percent of type 2 diabetes cases in the United States has been identified by scientists in Iceland.
The function of the TCF7L2 gene isn't clearly understood, but it appears to play a role in the regulation of other genes involved in hormone secretion, the Washington Post reported.
The researchers examined genetic markers in 1,185 Icelanders with type 2 diabetes and 931 people without diabetes. They identified the TCF7L2 gene and found that it has several variations. Two variations increase diabetes risk while one variation offers partial protection against the disease.
Among the diabetics in study, 33 percent had one of the risky variations of the gene, compared with 26 percent of the people without diabetes. A sample of mostly white Americans found risky variations of the TCF7L2 gene in 39 percent of those with type 2 diabetes and in 25 percent of those without diabetes, the Post reported.
The study authors calculated that, among white Americans, Icelanders and Danes, about 21 percent of type 2 diabetes cases could be attributed to the risky variations of the TCF7L2 gene.
The study appears online in the journal Nature Genetics.
Turks Confirm Girl's Death From Bird Flu
Preliminary Turkish tests have confirmed that a 12-year-old girl who died was infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, raising Turkey's death toll to four, health officials said Monday.
Fatma Ozcan died Sunday in the eastern city of Van, but initial tests had been negative for H5N1. The Health Ministry ordered a new round of tests after her 5-year-old brother, Muhammet, tested positive Sunday, and officials said those confirmed her infection, the Associated Press reported.
To date, 19 people in Turkey have tested positive in preliminary screenings for the H5N1 bird flu virus. Three of those people have died, the AP reported.
The Turkish Cabinet met Monday to review the crisis and to discuss further measures to control the disease. The country has slaughtered more than 700,000 domestic fowl as part of its efforts to control bird flu outbreaks in different parts of the country.
Meanwhile, a two-day international bird flu conference that begins Tuesday in Beijing is expected to collect at least $1 billion to fight the spread of the disease, says the World Bank.
Flu Shows Resistance to 2 Antiviral Drugs: CDC
The U.S. government is asking doctors not to prescribe two antiviral drugs commonly used to fight flu because of concerns about drug resistance, officials said Saturday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the recommendation applies to the drugs rimantadine and amantadine for the 2006 flu season. Results of recent lab tests showed that the predominant strain this season -- the H3N2 flu strain -- was resistant to the drugs, the Associated Press reported.
"Clinicians should not use rimantadine and amantadine ... because the drugs will not be effective," said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding. The two drugs have been used for years to combat type-A influenza.
The CDC tested 120 influenza A virus samples from the H3N2 strain and found 91 percent were resistant to the two drugs. Two years ago, less than 2 percent of the samples were resistant, the new service said.
Gerberding said health officials weren't sure how the resistance occurred. It may have resulted from a mutation in the H3N2 strain, or could have come from overuse of the drugs abroad, where some countries permit their use without a prescription, the AP said.
Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University is an infectious-disease expert who said flu has now joined other diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV, that recently have become resistant to front-line medications.
But Schaffner said doctors still have other weapons to fight the flu. One is the antiviral Tamiflu. Another is the drug Relenza, the AP said.
Cancer Researcher Admits He Faked Study Results
A Norwegian cancer researcher has admitted fabricating data for a paper published in the renowned British medical journal The Lancet, officials in Norway announced.
The researcher, Dr. Jon Sudbo, who works as a doctor and researcher at the Norwegian Radium Hospital, used faked patient data for a study on oral cancer that was published in October in the journal, a hospital spokeswoman said, according to ABC News.
The study contended that long-term use of certain drugs reduced the risk of oral cancer, and referred to results found in patients in two national databases.
The Norwegian daily Dagbladet said 250 of Sudbo's sample of 908 people in the study all shared the same birthday. Sudbo, who has not commented publicly on the hospital's charges and could not be reached for comment on Sunday, admitted falsifying the data for the article, the hospital spokeswoman said, ABC News reported.
The research hospital will also examine previous articles by Sudbo, including two in the New England Journal of Medicine, the network reported.
This is the second time in recent weeks that headline-making research has proven to be fraudulent. Last week, the journal Science announced it was retracting two papers by South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk, who acknowledged false data that claimed to show he created stem cells from the world's first cloned human embryos. But he insisted that junior researchers were really to blame for the fake findings.
Food Fact:
Buttermilk? Spread the word.
Despite the name, buttermilk is a great secret for low-fat cooks to keep up their sleeves. Buttermilk is either skim or low-fat, and fermented with beneficial bacteria that leaves its characteristic tang. Its acidity helps keep baked goods tender without adding fat, and its creamy texture makes a good base for salad dressings. It's a delicious addition to mashed potatoes and makes a thick, tangy, low-fat soup base. It also makes a fine smoothie: Combine frozen berries, buttermilk and sugar (to taste) in a blender. Blend until smooth.
Fitness Tip of the day:
Make a cardio-commute.
You're going to work anyway -- be creative, and you can squeeze in a little effortless exercise on the way. In the morning, walk or ride your bike to the train station or bus stop, or hop off the bus a few blocks from your normal stop and walk the rest of the way. At work, try talking the talk as you walk the walk. Suggest to your boss that you take your brainstorming sessions outside for a walk around the block or a stroll through the halls.
FAQ of the day:
Do I have to give up all red meat?
There are ways to make your sauce taste meaty without meat. Try adding extra mushrooms, sauteed eggplant, textured soy protein, ground turkey or chicken, or any combination of them. If meat's a must, buy the leanest ground beef, use about 1/4 your usual amount and try one of the above ingredients to stand in for the rest.
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