Your Belly Is SAD

There is an article on Medical News Today, uh, today about what researches consider to be a better predictor of future heart disease than BMI (body mass index). This makes sense, since a professional athlete can sometimes have a rather high BMI suggesting obesity when, in fact, he has very low body fat and is in better health than someone who is just fat.

Researchers measured each man's belly, the scientific term for which is "sagittal abdominal diameter" or SAD.

"Iribarren and his team also looked at the results within categories of BMI. They found that within the same BMI range, the SAD measure was a reliable predictor of CHD [coronary heart disease] risk. In other words, two people with the same Body Mass Index (even if their weight was "normal") would effectively have different risks of developing CHD depending on the size of their belly - the larger the belly the bigger the risk."

A Small Part of the Future of Medicine

Doctors and patients will, more and more, be communicating via the internet, over secure sites onto which they will log. Change is coming more slowly than many would like, but it's happening.

"An estimated 80 percent of Americans with Internet access would like to communicate with their doctors by e-mail, according to a HarrisInteractive Health Care Poll done in March 2005. That said, doctors have been slow to make use of the technology.

Only about one in four physicians reported that e-mail was used in his or her practice to communicate with patients in 2004-05, according to a study released a few months ago by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a health policy research organization in Washington. That was up from one in five in 2000-01."

One of the problems is that doctors aren't compensated for time spent on the phone or sending messages over the internet (not email, since it has to be specially encoded). I am remembering how stupid it was to get the results of an MRI in person, taking time off work, parking in downtown Boston, only to have a discussion with the doctor I could have easily had over the phone. This is the kind of stuff that absolutely must change for health care in this country to be effective and efficient.

Read the article on columbiatribune.com.

HSA Calculator

The 2007 annual contribution limits for Health Savings Accounts are $2,850 for individuals and $5,650 for families. The good news is that, now that President Bush has signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, you can contribute the max even if your deductible is lower. Try out this HSA Calculator from HSA Bank, to give yourself an idea of how much you'll have to start squirreling away to pay for medical expenses in retirement.

More On HSAs

President Bush today signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006.

"The bill’s provisions include the following:

1. It allows HSAs to be funded with one-time transfers from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), enabling individuals to benefit from the tax advantages provided by HSAs when paying for medical expenses.

2. It allows individuals to make the maximum annual contribution to HSAs at any point in a given year; previously, they were only allowed to make prorated contributions based on their enrollment dates.

3. It allows individuals to contribute amounts that equal the annual contribution limit, regardless of their plans’ deductible limits; previously, they were only allowed to contribute amounts equaling their deductibles.

4. It allows funding for HSAs to come from a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) or a flexible spending account (FSA) in the form of a one-time rollover.

5. It allows employees with lesser earnings to receive higher contributions from their employers into HSAs."

Read the article here on insurancenewsnet.com.

SWB

Contrary to popular belief, that doesn't stand for "single white bunny". SWB stands for "subjective well-being".

From the University of Leicester's School of Psychology:

"This underlying state is conceptualised as a sense of satisfaction with one’s life, both in general and in specific areas of one’s life such as relationships, health and work."

I read an article about the study in The Futurist magazine and was able to track down the paper and complete ranking of countries' scores on the Satisfaction With Life Scale here. Denmark and Switzerland tie for 1st place with a 273, followed by Austria, Iceland, Bahamas, Finland, and Sweden. USA is a little bit down the list with a score of 247, but comfortably ahead of the miserable French, at 220. It will come as no great shock that the bottom of the list is comprised of African and former Soviet Bloc countries, where health problems and poverty abound.

1-800 Contacts

I have an exciting development to report. I have used my HSA card for the very first time, and made a purchase, using pretax dollars, of an eligible product. I went on 1800contacts.com to check out the prices for contacts that I last bought at Costco (where I was unable to use my HSA card because they don't have the proper vendor code), and upon viewing the homepage, saw that FSA (Flexible Spending Account, an inferior predecessor of the HSA) cards can be used to purchase contacts. I called customer service to check if I could use my HSA and they said "yes". Even though the contacts are quite a bit cheaper at Costco, it's a long drive for me, and I was able to finally put my HSA card to the test. It was just like using a normal credit card. This kind of stuff will only get easier.

I should note that, even if one cannot use one's HSA card at Costco's Optical department, as long as the receipt is retained, one may reimburse oneself with HSA funds by doing a transfer to a personal account or writing a check. It's an extra step that takes away some convenience, though.

Here are some statistics and U.S. Treasury documents from HSA Insider.

Some Stuff You Need To Know

From Popular Mechanics:

"10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2007 From concrete that can flex to sensors that you swallow, here are the technologies you’ll be talking about."

As we are bombarded by more and more information, and burdened with rapidly increasing amounts of personal data, photos, and music, the "data cloud" will become an essential tool for managing one's life. It is the last of the ten concepts listed, and it will be huge. Google's Gdrive is sure to be a big hit, offering "unlimited storage" of information that can be accessed online from anywhere, just like your email.

The Skinny on the Article For Which I've Been Waiting

Prepare yourself to feel sorry for a chair -

"Obesity Worse Than Drinking Or Smoking"

"'Obesity is the most serious threat to the future health of [England],' said Prof Peter Littlejohns, the director of clinical and public health at [The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence]."

"American public health research has shown that for every 100 obese men and women, compared with people of normal weight, there would be 50 extra chronic diseases compared with about 20 among those who had ever smoked, nearly 60 among people living in poverty and a similar number for drinkers."

*Check out the comment on yesterday's post from Kari Chisholm, who works for Senator Wynd.

Healthy Americans Act (that's not an oxymoron)

This is something to watch. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is proposing an idea for national health care that is actually fairly reasonable, especially considering his party's history regarding same.

"Called the 'Healthy Americans Act,' the plan would require that employers 'cash out' their existing health plans by terminating coverage and paying the amount saved directly to workers as increased wages. Workers then would be required to buy health insurance from a large pool of private plans."

The plan doesn't allow employees to buy less comprehensive plans though, since the employer will be increasing salaries a similar amount as was spent on the prior year's coverage. This negates one of the benefits of going to HSA-compatible, high deductible plans.

Read about it on USA Today.com. I plan on reading more about the proposed legislation on the senators website: http://wyden.senate.gov/

Sneaky Sneaky

The bill I mentioned last week was passed over the weekend with provisions that relaxed restrictions on HSAs. So, we will now be able to contribute up to the maximum amount each year, even if our deductibles don't equal that amount. This article in the Washington Post has a good explanation of the legislation, though the contribution limits for 2007 are misstated. Read my last post below to see those.

HSA Legislation

Some HSA enhancements have passed in the House, and are on their way to the Senate. An important change proposed would be ignoring the deductible as it concerns contribution limits. So, even if you only had a $1,200 deductible (which would presently allow you to contribute only $1,200 to your HSA for the year), you would be able to contribute the maximum $2,850 to your HSA under the new rules. Let's keep our fingers crossed...

businessinsurance.com

I'm Lovin' It

I'm lovin' the news that I read on Drudge today regarding McDonald's. Read here about a town in England where McDonald's has shut its doors due to lack of business.

"Children no longer needed to go there because they were being fed properly."

I like McDonald's, and I hope the one near my office stays open, but I only eat there once or twice a month, so it would not be such a big deal.

Can You Hear Them Now?

Go ahead and talk away, just as long as you don't go over your minutes. That gets pretty expensive.

"Researchers at the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology followed 420,095 cell phone users who subscribed to service between 1982 and 1995, and were tracked through 2002 to spot any incidences of cancer. Compared with the general population, there was no appreciable difference."

They might even lessen the risk for cancer (joking):

"What was found was a lower risk for smoking-related cancers, however this was likely more to do with socio-economic status than the cell phones themselves. Early adopters of cellular technology were of higher income, and smoke at a lesser rate than the general population."

Read the article here.

The Twinkie Tax and Trans Fats

There is an article in today's Miami Herald that discusses a growing trend among companies seeking healthier employees.

"After L.L. Bean increased the price for burgers and lowered the price for salads in its cafeteria, fruit and salad bar purchases doubled while fries and burger sales fell by half."

Read the Herald article here.

New York City's Board of Health has just banned trans fats:

"The new requirements will mean that the city’s 20,000 food establishments, from high-end bistros to neighborhood delis, will be barred from using most frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July 1, 2007, and will have to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of their foods by July 1, 2008. The establishments have to switch to oils, margarines and shortening that meet the limits and bring their menus into compliance."

Read the New York Times article here.

This Stuff is Bad (and by "bad" I mean "good")

"The Top Ten Bad Things That Are Good For You"

The Biggest Generation (Revisited)

There's a link on Drudge about the rising numbers of teens who are opting for bariatric surgery. It's rather startling to read one teenager's words:

"I have a little nephew, and that's my motivation right now. I want to be [here to] play with him as he gets older".

Read the New York Daily News article here.