Most big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year, according to a survey released Thursday.
Many say they may charge more to cover spouses, tighten eligibility standards for their health plans and dispense financial rewards or penalties based on the results of certain lab tests. At some companies, overweight employees could be excluded from the most desirable plans.
Meanwhile, employees at many companies can expect significantly higher premiums, deductibles and co-payments, according to the annual survey by the National Business Group on Health, a coalition of big employers, and Towers Watson, a consulting firm that advises companies on employee benefits.
"This shows that the constant, unrelenting increases in health-care costs are going to cost employees and their families more and more," said Helen Darling, president of the business group. Faced with rapidly rising medical expenses, "employers are going to have to do something," she said.
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Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Research Ties Diabetes Drug to Heart Woes
Hundreds of people taking Avandia, a controversial diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market.
The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart. Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.
“Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market,” one report, by Dr. David Graham and Dr. Kate Gelperin of the Food and Drug Administration, concludes. Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.
The internal F.D.A. reports are part of a fierce debate within the agency over what to do about Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Some agency officials want the drug withdrawn because they believe there is a safer alternative; others insist that studies of the drug provide contradictory information and that Avandia should continue to be an option for doctors and patients. GlaxoSmithKline said that it had studied Avandia extensively and that “scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases” the risk of heart attacks.
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The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart. Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.
“Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market,” one report, by Dr. David Graham and Dr. Kate Gelperin of the Food and Drug Administration, concludes. Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.
The internal F.D.A. reports are part of a fierce debate within the agency over what to do about Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Some agency officials want the drug withdrawn because they believe there is a safer alternative; others insist that studies of the drug provide contradictory information and that Avandia should continue to be an option for doctors and patients. GlaxoSmithKline said that it had studied Avandia extensively and that “scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases” the risk of heart attacks.
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This Fruit Might Kill You: Doctors Demand Choking Warning Labels On Food
CHICAGO — When 4-year-old Eric Stavros Adler choked to death on a piece of hot dog, his anguished mother never dreamed that the popular kids' food could be so dangerous. Some food makers including Oscar Mayer have warning labels about choking, but not nearly enough, says Joan Stavros Adler, Eric's mom.
The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees. The nation's largest pediatricians group is calling for sweeping changes in the way food is designed and labeled to minimize children's chances for choking.
Choking kills more than 100 U.S. children 14 years or younger each year and thousands more – 15,000 in 2001 – are treated in emergency rooms. Food, including candy and gum, is among the leading culprits, along with items like coins and balloons. Of the 141 choking deaths in kids in 2006, 61 were food-related.
Surveillance systems lack detailed information about food choking incidents, which are thought to be underreported but remain a significant and under-appreciated problem, said Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees. The nation's largest pediatricians group is calling for sweeping changes in the way food is designed and labeled to minimize children's chances for choking.
Choking kills more than 100 U.S. children 14 years or younger each year and thousands more – 15,000 in 2001 – are treated in emergency rooms. Food, including candy and gum, is among the leading culprits, along with items like coins and balloons. Of the 141 choking deaths in kids in 2006, 61 were food-related.
Surveillance systems lack detailed information about food choking incidents, which are thought to be underreported but remain a significant and under-appreciated problem, said Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
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Sunday, February 21, 2010
Mercury: How To Get This Lethal Poison Out Of Your Body
If you are heavy, it could be making you sick and tired and age prematurely. And I don't mean heavy with fat ...
I mean heavy with heavy metals -- like mercury!
Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.
There's no doubt about it, mercury is the most alarming, disease-causing source of environmental toxicity that I see daily in my practice. Many of patients have toxic levels of mercury -- and they're not alone. I personally suffered from mercury toxicity and chronic fatigue syndrome --which I cured myself from, in part by getting rid of the mercury in my body. So I know about this first hand.
I became toxic because I polluted myself by growing up on tuna fish sandwiches, eating sushi, living in Beijing, which heats all its homes with coal -- the major source of environmental mercury load -- and having a mouthful of amalgam (a.k.a. mercury) fillings.
All of these exposures, combined with genes that prevent me from effectively detoxifying metals in my body, led to a slow and significant poisoning of my cells and mitochondria. And the effects were obvious ...
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I mean heavy with heavy metals -- like mercury!
Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.
There's no doubt about it, mercury is the most alarming, disease-causing source of environmental toxicity that I see daily in my practice. Many of patients have toxic levels of mercury -- and they're not alone. I personally suffered from mercury toxicity and chronic fatigue syndrome --which I cured myself from, in part by getting rid of the mercury in my body. So I know about this first hand.
I became toxic because I polluted myself by growing up on tuna fish sandwiches, eating sushi, living in Beijing, which heats all its homes with coal -- the major source of environmental mercury load -- and having a mouthful of amalgam (a.k.a. mercury) fillings.
All of these exposures, combined with genes that prevent me from effectively detoxifying metals in my body, led to a slow and significant poisoning of my cells and mitochondria. And the effects were obvious ...
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Campbell lowers sales guidance, plans soup revamp
PHILADELPHIA — Campbell Soup Co. lowered its fiscal 2010 sales forecast Wednesday as competition heats up in the soup business and said it will cut sodium and revamp the packaging for some of its soups.
The moves come as food makers are competing vigorously to sell penny-pinching consumers meals that are easy to prepare at home and convince them not to trade down to store brands.
The world's biggest soup maker now anticipates full-year sales will rise 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent, down from its prior outlook for a 4 percent to 5 percent increase.
Based on 2009 revenue of $7.6 billion, that implies sales of about $7.79 billion to $7.87 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect 2010 revenue of $7.87 billion.
Speaking to analysts Wednesday at Consumer Analyst Group of New York convention in Boca Raton, Fla., Campbell President and CEO Douglas Conant said the lower revenue expectations reflect what happened in the first six months of fiscal 2010. He said the company would go into detail Monday when it releases its quarterly earnings report.
Campbell, based in Camden, N.J., also maintained its outlook for 2010 adjusted earnings per share to climb 9 percent to 11 percent from fiscal 2009's $2.21 per share. This would put 2010 profit between approximately $2.41 and $2.45 per share. Analysts predict earnings of $2.46 per share for the year. These estimates typically remove one-time items.
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The moves come as food makers are competing vigorously to sell penny-pinching consumers meals that are easy to prepare at home and convince them not to trade down to store brands.
The world's biggest soup maker now anticipates full-year sales will rise 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent, down from its prior outlook for a 4 percent to 5 percent increase.
Based on 2009 revenue of $7.6 billion, that implies sales of about $7.79 billion to $7.87 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect 2010 revenue of $7.87 billion.
Speaking to analysts Wednesday at Consumer Analyst Group of New York convention in Boca Raton, Fla., Campbell President and CEO Douglas Conant said the lower revenue expectations reflect what happened in the first six months of fiscal 2010. He said the company would go into detail Monday when it releases its quarterly earnings report.
Campbell, based in Camden, N.J., also maintained its outlook for 2010 adjusted earnings per share to climb 9 percent to 11 percent from fiscal 2009's $2.21 per share. This would put 2010 profit between approximately $2.41 and $2.45 per share. Analysts predict earnings of $2.46 per share for the year. These estimates typically remove one-time items.
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Friday, February 19, 2010
Orthorexia: Can Healthy Eating Be a Disorder?
Kristie Rutzel was in high school when she began adhering precisely to the government food pyramids. As the Virginia native learned more about healthy eating, she stopped ingesting anything processed, then restricted herself to whole foods and eventually to 100% organic. By college, the 5-ft. 4-in. communications major was on a strict raw-foods diet, eating little else besides uncooked broccoli and cauliflower and tipping the scales at just 68 lb. Rutzel, now 27, has a name for her eating disorder: orthorexia, a controversial diagnosis characterized by an obsession with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy.
As the list of foods to steer clear of (bye-bye, trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup) continues to grow, eating-disorder experts are increasingly confronted with patients like Rutzel who speak of nervously shunning foods with artificial flavors, colors or preservatives and rigidly following a particular diet, such as vegan or raw foods. Women may be more prone to this kind of restrictive consumption than men, keeping running tabs of verboten foods and micromanaging food prep. Many opt to go hungry rather than eat anything less than wholesome.
Yet when Rutzel first sought help for anemia and osteopenia, a precursor of osteoporosis triggered by her avoidance of calcium, her doctor in upstate New York, where she attended college, had never heard of orthorexia. "You should be trying to eat healthy," she remembers him telling her. He couldn't quite grasp that he was talking to a health nut who believed there were few truly healthy foods she felt were safe to eat. Her condition was eventually identified as anorexia, a diagnosis that organizations like the Washington-based Eating Disorders Coalition think is a mistake. The group, which represents more than 35 eating-disorder organizations in the U.S., wants orthorexia to have a separate entry in the bible of psychiatric illness, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
As the list of foods to steer clear of (bye-bye, trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup) continues to grow, eating-disorder experts are increasingly confronted with patients like Rutzel who speak of nervously shunning foods with artificial flavors, colors or preservatives and rigidly following a particular diet, such as vegan or raw foods. Women may be more prone to this kind of restrictive consumption than men, keeping running tabs of verboten foods and micromanaging food prep. Many opt to go hungry rather than eat anything less than wholesome.
Yet when Rutzel first sought help for anemia and osteopenia, a precursor of osteoporosis triggered by her avoidance of calcium, her doctor in upstate New York, where she attended college, had never heard of orthorexia. "You should be trying to eat healthy," she remembers him telling her. He couldn't quite grasp that he was talking to a health nut who believed there were few truly healthy foods she felt were safe to eat. Her condition was eventually identified as anorexia, a diagnosis that organizations like the Washington-based Eating Disorders Coalition think is a mistake. The group, which represents more than 35 eating-disorder organizations in the U.S., wants orthorexia to have a separate entry in the bible of psychiatric illness, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
Scientists Get Closer to Understanding Why We Age
'Time waits for no man, the old truism goes, but in recent years scientists have shown that it does seem to move more slowly for some. Molecular biologists have observed that people's cells often age at different rates, leading them to make a distinction between chronological and biological age.
'But the reason for the difference remains only vaguely understood. Environmental factors such as smoking, stress and regular exercise all seem to influence the rate at which our cells age. Now, for the first time, researchers have found a genetic link to cellular aging — a finding that suggests new treatments for a variety of age-related diseases and cancers.
'The field of biological aging has in recent years focused on the long molecules of DNA contained in human cells called chromosomes. All chromosomes have protective caps at either end called telomeres. Each time a cell replicates itself (as it does before it dies), the telomeres shorten, like plastic tips fraying on the end of shoelaces. Shortened telomeres have been linked to a host of age-related illnesses such as heart disease and certain cancers. (Scientists have yet to study whether telomeres influence a person's appearance.) Last year's Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to three American scientists for their work in the field, and many scientists now believe that telomeres are the closest we may come to identifying a biological clock — and our best bet for learning how to stop or turn back that clock.'
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'But the reason for the difference remains only vaguely understood. Environmental factors such as smoking, stress and regular exercise all seem to influence the rate at which our cells age. Now, for the first time, researchers have found a genetic link to cellular aging — a finding that suggests new treatments for a variety of age-related diseases and cancers.
'The field of biological aging has in recent years focused on the long molecules of DNA contained in human cells called chromosomes. All chromosomes have protective caps at either end called telomeres. Each time a cell replicates itself (as it does before it dies), the telomeres shorten, like plastic tips fraying on the end of shoelaces. Shortened telomeres have been linked to a host of age-related illnesses such as heart disease and certain cancers. (Scientists have yet to study whether telomeres influence a person's appearance.) Last year's Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to three American scientists for their work in the field, and many scientists now believe that telomeres are the closest we may come to identifying a biological clock — and our best bet for learning how to stop or turn back that clock.'
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