Posts in ‘Blog’

Resuscitating Healthcare Reform
President Obama released a healthcare reform bill this week in a move some are calling a last ditch effort at reconciling the stalled legislation in the House and Senate. The proposal is part of a larger concentrated effort at passing reform, which will culminate in a bipartisan healthcare summit at the Blair House on February 25.

The New York Times reports that Mr. Obama’s plan, “sticks largely to the version passed by the Senate in December but addresses some of the main concerns of House leaders who are demanding more help for the middle class.” The White House says the plan would provide coverage for 31 million uninsured Americans, but it does not carry a public option.

Republicans repeatedly have said they wanted the President to “start from scratch” with a bipartisan bill and have expressed opposition to the new proposal. The Washington Post quotes House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) who said, “This new Democrats-only backroom deal doubles down on the same failed approach that will drive up premiums, destroy jobs, raise taxes, and slash Medicare benefits.”

So what’s in the proposal? You can examine it on the White House’s website and we’ve also highlighted key elements below.
Key Changes:

• Increases the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500. The excise tax would start in 2018 for all plans.
• Creates a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to provide Federal assistance and oversight to States in conducting reviews of unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.
• Closes the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap.
• Eliminates the Nebraska deal- a.k.a. the “Cornhusker Kickback”, which would’ve provided additional assistance to the state for any increased Medicaid costs it might encounter under new legislation. Instead, the President’s proposal provides additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid.
• Increases tax credits. Relative to the Senate bill, the President’s proposal lowers premiums for families with income below $44,000 and above $66,000. Relative to the House bill, the proposal makes premiums less expensive for families with income between approximately $55,000 and $88,000.(Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting)
• The President’s proposal also features a number of provisions outlined in the approved House and Senate Bill:
• Creates state-based health insurance exchanges to begin in 2014. With the exchanges, the President proposal adds new protections that prohibit annual and lifetime limits, ban pre-existing condition exclusions, and prohibit discrimination in favor of highly compensated individuals.
• Requires all individuals who have affordable health insurance options to either purchase insurance or make a payment. There is a “hardship” exemption for people who would face payments of more than 8% of their income.

The President’s proposal is consistent with the Senate bill in that it requires employers to help defray the cost of health insurance for their employees if taxpayers are footing the bill. Small businesses with fewer than 50 workers would be exempt from any employer responsibility policies.
(Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting)

To compare the Senate, House, and President’s Bill more closely, please visit Igor Volsky’s blog.

As for cost, the President’s proposal is estimated at $950 billion over a decade. The White House says the plan will reduce the deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years and by about $1 trillion over the second decade. However, it has yet to be evaluated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Policy experts are already weighing in with their opinion; you can read Robert Laszewski’s perspective on The Healthcare Blog.

What do you think? Is this the way forward for healthcare reform? icyou wants to hear from you.

Did you know that heart disease accounts for more deaths in the United States than any other health condition? In light of American Heart Month, everyone should be aware of the risks for heart disease, as well as ways to prevent it.

There are several risk factors for heart disease; some are controllable, others are not. Below are the leading risk factors according to the American Heart Association, click the link to watch a video on how each relates to heart disease.

Uncontrollable risk factors include:

• Gender
• Older age
• Family history of heart disease
• Race

Controllable risk factors include:

• Smoking
• High blood cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Physical inactivity
• Obesity
• Uncontrolled diabetes
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Stress and anger

Following a healthy lifestyle is a proven method for reducing your risk of heart disease. For tips and advice on a heart healthy lifestyle, check out the videos below:

Heart Health: what’s your game plan?

Eating for a Healthy Heart

Exercising for Heart Health

Dieting and Heart Health

For the past few weeks, the healthcare bills in Congress appeared dead in the water. Scott Brown’s January victory in Massachusetts effectively called into question the public’s support of a healthcare overhaul. Republicans classified the upset win as a referendum on reform. Democrats, who point out that Massachusetts already has near-universal healthcare, said it wasn’t so, yet cautiously moved forward. Job creation took center-stage and though Democrats assured that they would not abandon healthcare, the issue stalled.

Flash forward to the second week of February (and a strategy regrouping): Though far from being revived, the healthcare debate shows signs of life.  In his State of the Union address, President Obama urged Congress to finish the job of providing affordable and equitable care for the American people.

More recently, the President called for a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House.  The summit is to be held and televised live on February 25. The Washington Post reports that Obama’s invitation, “reflects a recognition that he must have at least some Republican support if he hopes to see health-care reform pass.”

Will a summit jumpstart the healthcare debate? Republican leadership has said they may not participate unless the White House starts from the ground up with a reform bill. Do you think the current legislation is too complex? icyou member UMHealth System weighs in on the complexity question.

We’d like to hear from you too. Submit your comments or better yet, your own videos.

Parents fearing that childhood vaccines may cause autism can breathe a little easier now.  Just yesterday, the medical journal, The Lancet, withdrew the contentious 1998 study that first linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism.

As reported in a CNN article, the lead author of the study, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, “was found to have acted unethically in conducting the research.” The General Medical Council, which oversees doctors in Britain, said “there was a biased selection of patients in The Lancet paper” and that his “conduct in this regard was dishonest and irresponsible.”

Overall, the causes of autism are still unknown and may never be pinpointed to one particular variable. However, this false study provides more evidence against the idea that the MMR vaccine causes autism.  Join the conversation and share your stories about autism with icyou.

Cervical Cancer is on the decline, but there are some key pointers to keeping it there. January is Cervical Health Awareness Month and icyou is honoring it by outlining the facts and formulas for keeping you, and the women you know, cervix cancer free.

According to House Calls Tv, there are approximately 100,000 to 200,000 cases of cervical pre-cancer a year and about 11,000 to 12,000 actual cervical cancer cases each year.  Doctors say the reason so many patients can go from having cervical pre-cancer to cancer-free is the use of screenings.  In one study discussed on icyou, women who did not have cervical cancer screenings at the recommended intervals were two times more likely to have cervical cancer and five times more likely to have advanced cancer.  So, it is important to get screened by a physician once a year.

Some cases of cervical cancer are caused by HPV, Human Papillomavirus.  There are about 100 types of HPV. Approximately 30 of those are spread through genital contact (typically sexual intercourse). Around 12 – called “low-risk” types of HPV – can cause genital warts. In addition, there are approximately 15 “high-risk” types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer.  As one icyou video shows, approximately 80 percent of sexually active women will get some form of HPV by the time they are 50.

In terms of HPV, there is good news.  Since June 2006, the vaccine Gardasil has been available through physicians.  The vaccine is a series of three shots and is most effective on young women, ages 9-26, who are not sexually active yet.  Ask your doctor for more information regarding Gardasil and other upcoming vaccine options.

So remember, it is recommended that women get screened annually and consider Gardasil to prevent harmful types of HPV.  Join the discussion about cervical health by sharing your stories about cervical cancer, vaccines and staying cancer-free at icyou.

Approximately 78,000 babies are born in the United States each week. Approximately 12 percent of those babies are born with birth defects; that’s 9,360 babies. January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month and to show our support of this important issue, icyou is providing you with preventative pointers.

A birth defect is any noticeable deficiency in appearance or function noticed in a child’s first year. According to icyou contributor Dr. Mona Khanna, mothers over the age of 35 and who have had children with birth defects before are at a heightened risk to have children with birth defects.  However, most babies with birth defects are not born to parents with these risk factors.

Some of the major factors with birth defects that expecting mothers and parents should be concerned with are:

• Folic Acid: Dr. Mona indicates that appropriate folic acid intake is absolutely crucial both before and during the pregnancy. It is important for a woman to have the right amount of folic acid in her diet even before she gets pregnant.

• Alcohol: It has become a widely known fact that drinking alcohol during pregnancy can be very unhealthy for the unborn child. Drinking alcohol undoubtedly increases the risk of having a child with defects, especially excessive alcohol intake.

• Smoking: Much like drinking alcohol, a smoking addiction or even occasional smoking can be harmful during pregnancy as well. Smoking often leads to low birth weight and/or developmental disabilities in children.

One final pointer is to be sure and see a doctor for pre-natal vitamins. These vitamins can be the key to keeping a mother and baby healthy. For more answers and tips about how to prevent birth defects, search “birth defects” on icyou.

Parents, teachers and doctors continue to question and investigate the causes of autism. For many, those questions center around what in a child’s environment, such as vaccinations or industrial chemicals or pollution, could have an impact. A new study looking at geographical clusters in California with noticeably high rates of autism diagnoses, sheds new light on whether such environmental factors can cause autism.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis looked into ten geographical areas in California (map), each of which had a proportion of children diagnosed with autism 70 percent higher than in surrounding areas. The question becomes, if so many children in one region are diagnosed with autism is there an environmental cause in these specific locations?

They found that areas with higher-educated, older and Caucasian parents had more diagnoses of autism than the general population. This is not to say that babies born to parents in these demographics or in these areas are genetically predisposed to autism but simply a suggestion that having an older, more educated, Caucasian parent translates to a higher chance of a diagnosis. It is important to remember that there are many undiagnosed cases of autism and that just because a region has higher diagnoses, does not mean another region has fewer overall cases. In other words, highly educated parents typically have more and better access to healthcare, which in turn can mean a higher likelihood than the general population of getting an accurate diagnosis of autism.

So, while the study and its stipulations may be somewhat convoluted and difficult to grasp, the bottom line is that environmental factors are not the cause for the higher proportions of autism cases in these areas. These results are comforting to parents in these clusters because they now know that there was not “something in the water,” that increased the likelihood of autism in their children.

Learn more about autism on icyou

Early Monday morning, when most of us were asleep, members of the U.S. Senate took a giant leap toward passing their version of a health care bill. They voted along party lines (60 to 40) to limit debate on the legislation, which paves the way for a final vote. On Tuesday, additional procedural steps cleared. If Senate Democrats hold ranks, the chamber could pass the more than 2,000-page bill before Christmas.

Civics doesn’t have to be your favorite subject to understand the historic nature of these events. Monday’s vote brings more than 30 million uninsured Americans one step closer to coverage. Yet, there are still plenty of hurdles ahead. The most significant being the Senate Bill, once passed, and the House bill are two very different pieces of legislation as currently written. These bills must be combined before President Obama can say “signed, sealed, delivered” on the centerpiece of his domestic policy.

In the days ahead, here’s what to look for:

The Abortion Coverage Debate – The House bill does not allow health plans bought with any government subsidies to cover abortion. The Senate Bill, as it stands,   would separate payments for abortion coverage so that no federal dollars would cover the procedure. According to The Washington Post, the language in the Senate bill is “drawing contempt from both sides.”

The “Public Option” Debate – The House includes a government-run health insurance plan. The Senate bill, as it stands, does not. Many icyou members have weighed in on the issue, both for a public plan and…

The How-To-Pay-For-It Debate – In the House Bill most of the money would come from a tax surcharge on people who make more than $500,000 a per year and couples who make more than $1 million dollars aper year. The Senate bill, -as it stands,- would tax expensive “Cadillac health plans”. The Senate would also increase the Medicare payroll tax for people who make more than $200,000 a year and couples who make more than $250,000. Both bills expect to get more than $400 billion from cuts in Medicare and other federal programs. However many people say the numbers just don’t add up; in particular icyou member, DrMDK says tort reform is not addressed in the current legislation.

Throughout the debate, lawmakers have had to make lots of compromises and what some would call “deals.”. The New York Times examines some of the very specific beneficiaries in the current Senate bill.
Do you think the process is working or has it become “Let’s Make a Deal”? We would love to hear from you.

As we count down to 2010, we are taking some time to look back at the major health headlines of this past year.

If you had never heard of the “Swine Flu,” you certainly have now.  All of the questions and fears surrounding H1N1 began in April as the first few cases became known, but of course the concerns about this flu have not subsided.  To deliver the latest information regarding H1N1, icyou developed the H1N1 Swine Flu Information Channel, which continues to bring you updates on the signs and symptoms, vaccines and spread of this pandemic strain of flu.

The start of 2009 also brought the beginning of a new presidency.  Barack Obama took office in January and thus began another health hot topic: healthcare reform.  “Obamacare” has not passed yet and needless to say there are quite a few differing opinions. But one thing is for sure: we will undoubtedly hear more about these reform efforts in the upcoming year.

To catch up on healthcare reform progress that you may have missed and to stay informed on the latest updates, check out the Barack Obama Healthcare Reform Channel for videos from the White House, various political perspectives and people like you.

Other issues abounded. Here are some of the top health stories and medical breakthroughs uploaded to icyou in 2009:

Stem Cell Research sheds new light on Pancreatic Cancer
Salmonella found in peanut butter
“Octomom” makes headlines with in-vitro fertilization
New Mammography Guidelines
Interest in understanding and preventing army suicide
Artificial Retina gives hope for restoring sight
JAMA study finds common strain of influenza resistant to anti-viral medications

Wondering what else people were watching on icyou? Here are some of the top channels and videos of the year:

Tara Stiles Yoga Channel
Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Cooking
Therapy Dogs Help Wounded Warriors
Topics: Parkinson’s Disease
Topics: Fitness/Exercise
Topics: Politics/Policy

In addition to these issues, here are some of the top searches that brought people to icyou this year:

Ovulation
TMJ Relief
Colonoscopy Procedure
Muscular Skeletal System
Laparoscopic Hysterectomy

For more of what we were watching in 2009, check out any of the 26 “Pulse” updates from throughout the year.

It has been an eventful and exciting year for health news and it’s not over yet.  We look forward to presenting more videos and the latest information and trends in the year to come.

People are beginning to eat like animals.  Certain species of animals only eat raw plants found in nature, and now so do many humans.  Eating raw, completely uncooked fruits, vegetables and nuts has become a trend in home kitchens and chic restaurants.  Some eat raw because they want to take a stand against animal cruelty, but many do it simply for the health benefits they believe a raw food diet offers. icyou features several channels focused on those who prepare, eat, and swear by raw food.

On icyou, you’ll see that some people go to extremes when it comes to beginning a raw food diet, while others gradually and more permanently incorporate it into their lives.  For example, on RawFoodMedia’s Channel, one film maker challenges herself to eat only raw food for 30 days straight.  Find out how much weight she lost and if she would ever recommend or commit to this lifestyle.

Others, however, like contributor Daniel Nadaeu made a less drastic crack at a raw food diet.  He was already vegan, but switched to a raw vegan diet.  Check out his homemade recipes, athlete-specific pointers, and how he proves certain nutritional myths wrong.

If you are inspired to try raw foods for yourself, both Jennifer Cornbleet and Ani Phyo have a variety of recipes that simulate the taste and texture of some of your non-raw favorites.  Phyo says that preparing food in the microwave removes 100% of its nutritional value, so food heated in the microwave is essentially empty calories.  Check out her creative alternatives, like raw lasagna, burgers and cookies.

If you have tried a raw food diet, want to share recipes, or never want to go near a raw diet we would love to hear from you.  Join the discussion on icyou.com.