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Subject: health Mon, Oct 12 1992
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 04:44:58 EDT
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10-12 0000
DECISIONLINE: Health
USA TODAY Update
Oct. 12, 1992
Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network
    
EXERCISE AS GOOD AS NEW HEART:
   About 3 out of 5 adults waiting for a heart transplant could 
live just as long and actively if doctors, instead, put them on a 
drug and exercise program, a cardiac expert reported Sunday. The 
donor heart shortage is becoming more acute, and a growing number 
of heart failure patients are dying as they await transplants, 
says Dr. Lynne Warner Stevenson of UCLA Medical School.
(For more, see special Heart package below.)
    
POLICYHOLDERS SHOULD BE AWARE:
   Policyholders need to be aware of their insurer's health: 
Insurers aren't backed by the government the way bank accounts 
are. The insurance industry has nothing like banks' Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corp. Instead, state guaranty associations stand 
behind insurers. Those associations don't have cash on hand to pay 
for insurance failures.
    
MONEY COULD BE TIED UP:
   When an insurer is shut down by state regulators, it can take 
months for policyholders to get access to their money, even if 
it's fully protected. That's because the state guaranty system is 
not as well-developed or as adequately staffed as the federal 
bank-insurance agency, experts say.
    
WOMEN NOT AT HIGHER RISK:
   Women may not run a higher risk than men of developing blood 
clots in the lung, even though some studies have said they do, 
researchers say. An investigation of 496 women and 406 men 
conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found women 
aged 50 and younger actually had a decreased frequency of 
pulmonary embolism than men. There was no difference over age 50.
    
SELF-EMPLOYED WATCHING BILL:
   Self-employed workers stand to lose a 25% deduction for their 
family health-insurance costs if President Bush vetoes a $27 
billion tax bill as expected. Victims of Hurricane Andrew would 
also lose a proposed tax break. The bill includes the renewal of 
$8.5 billion in various tax breaks that expired in July.
    
HEALTH CONFERENCE TO BE HELD:
   A state Health Education Conference will be held in Casper, 
Wyoming, Tuesday. The conference - funded by the state Dept. of 
Health and the Wyoming HIV-AIDS Education Project - includes a 
panel of elementary, junior and senior high students and is 
designed to help them develop healthy lifestyles. 
    
DENVER CRACKING DOWN ON SHOTS:
   Seventh-graders in Denver who don't prove Monday that they have 
been vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella won't be admitted 
to class. School officials say about 1,000 7th-graders haven't had 
boosters. The deadline in Aurora's school districts is Nov. 1.
    
SAFETY BELTS SAVE LIVES:
   Safety belts, credited with saving 25,000 lives since 1983, can 
reduce the chance of death or injury in a crash by 50%, according 
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. About 40% 
of U.S. drivers still don't wear belts, despite laws in 42 states 
requiring their use.
    
VETERANS TO GET DISCOUNTS:
   Veterans hospitals will receive the same discounts on drugs 
that Medicaid patients get under a bill passed by Congress this 
past week. Manufacturers, seeking to capture lost profits, 
increased prices to federal agencies in 1990, when Congress 
mandated the drug discounts to the Medicaid program.
    
SPECIAL PACKAGE ON HEART:
    
TOO MANY ON TRANSPLANT LIST:
   Dr. Lynne Warner Stevenson of UCLA Medical School reported 
findings for 800 patients given specially designed treatments to 
an American Medical Association reporters conference. There are 
2,000 donor hearts available per year, half of the organs needed. 
"It's a glamourous procedure ... however, too many patients are 
being listed for transplant," Stevenson says.
    
UCLA TAKES DIFFERENT APPROACH:
   Prompted by the scarcity of hearts, the UCLA team takes a 
different approach. Adults are hospitalized for three to five days 
of high-tech testing that produces a personalized recipe of 
exercise plus drugs to relax blood vessels and drain fluid from 
the heart. "Most patients feel dramatically better within 24 
hours," she says.
    
CRITICS SAY MORE TESTING NEEDED:
   Compared with transplant patients, those on the tailored 
program from heart symptoms. Applying the UCLA program nationwide 
would cut the heart waiting list by one-third and allow 60% with 
severe heart failure to be stabilized as well as they could be 
with a new heart, Stevenson says. But critics say trials on more 
patients are needed to test the therapy.
(End of package.)
    
Health Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of 
USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution 
violates federal law.
    

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