Health Agency Chief Apologizes for Federal Website Woes

By Karen Pallarito

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The head of the federal agency responsible for HealthCare.gov issued a public apology Tuesday for problems that have plagued the health insurance website since its Oct. 1 launch.

"I want to apologize to you that the website has not worked as well as it should," Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told members of the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee at a hearing on the Affordable Care Act.

Tavenner told the committee that the website problems were being fixed.

"We are seeing improvements each week, and as we've said publicly, by the end of November, the experience on the site will be smooth for the vast majority of users," she said.

Last week, the Obama administration announced that a "punch list" of website fixes have been identified and were being implemented to eliminate the bugs in the system and improve the consumer shopping experience.

Tavenner's apology comes one day before the Obama administration's top health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Sebelius is expected to face tough questioning from committee members about the troubled rollout of the federal marketplace, a key component of the historic and controversial Affordable Care Act that is intended to bring health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

The law requires most Americans to have health insurance or pay tax penalties. But in light of the HealthCare.gov website foul-up, many Republicans and some Democrats are seeking a one-year delay of the penalties.

Tavenner admitted that the website's "initial experience has not lived up to our expectations or the expectations of the American people, and it is not acceptable."

"We are committed to improving the performance and have already made progress," she said, citing efforts to debug the site, add capacity and improve the consumer shopping experience.

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the committee, repeatedly asked Tavenner for the number of people who have actually enrolled in health plans through the federal and state marketplaces. HealthCare.gov handles insurance registration for 36 states; the remaining 14 states and the District of Columbia operate their own sites.

"We will not have those numbers until mid-November," Tavenner said, noting that the initial number is expected to be small.

Camp expressed concern about preventing a spike in premiums if not enough young adults enroll in coverage. Tavenner said health-plan rates for 2014 are "very competitive."

The successful enrollment of younger, healthier adults is considered vital to the success of the Affordable Care Act -- sometimes called Obamacare -- because their premiums are expected to help offset the cost of care required by older, sicker Americans.

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Gardening, Housework May Help Boost Your Heart Health

Study of Swedish seniors found a reduced death risk of up to 30 percent

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Activities such as gardening, do-it-yourself projects and housework may be as good as formal exercise when it comes to reducing the risk for heart attack and stroke, Swedish researchers say.

For people 60 and older, just keeping busy with daily activities can reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems by nearly 30 percent and even prolong life, they added.

Being on your feet and active cuts the time spent sitting around, pointed out lead researcher Elin Ekblom-Bak, of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences and the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm.

"Sitting is mainly replacing time you spend in daily activity and vice versa," Ekblom-Bak said. A recent study found long periods of sitting actually increased the risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death, she noted.

"The results of this study showed that activities of daily life are as important as regular intentional exercise for older adults for cardiovascular health and longevity," she said.

But that doesn't mean formal exercise isn't important. "We saw that those who exercised regularly and that also had a daily physically active life had the lowest risk of all," Ekblom-Bak explained.

The time people spend exercising, however, is only a small part of the day, which leaves a lot of time for daily activities or sitting, she added.

For the new study, researchers collected data on more than 3,800 men and women in Sweden who were born in 1937 and 1938. Participants were asked about their lifestyle, which included information on their diet, whether they smoked or drank alcohol, and how physically active they were.

The participants were also asked how often they took part in activities, such as gardening, do-it-yourself projects, car maintenance and blackberry picking over the past year. They were also asked about any exercise they did.

To see how heart-healthy they were, the researchers examined the participants and took blood samples to assess levels of fat and sugar. They also checked for high levels of blood-clotting factor, which is linked to a raised heart attack and stroke risk.

During more than 12 years of follow-up, 476 of the participants died from or experienced a first heart attack or stroke, and 383 died from other various causes.

People whose daily activities kept them moving reduced their risk of a heart attack or stroke by 27 percent and the risk of dying from any cause by 30 percent, compared to people who spent the least amount of time on their feet.

"Promoting daily life activities is as important as recommending regular exercise for older adults for cardiovascular health and longevity," Ekblom-Bak said.

"This is particularly important for older adults as they tend to spend a greater portion of their active day performing non-exercise physical activity, as they often find it difficult to achieve recommended exercise intensity levels," she said.

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Aircraft noise linked to increased health risks

Living underneath the Heathrow flightpath is noisy.... ....and now British researchers say it can be bad for your health. More than three-and-a-half-million people can hear planes taking off and landing at London's biggest airport on a daily basis. Researchers at London's Imperial College studied hospital admissions and death rates due to stroke and heart disease over a five-year period in the areas most affected. Lead author Dr Anna Hansell says their findings were significant, particularly in areas closest to the airport. SOUNDBITE (English) LEAD AUTHOR OF STUDY ON AIRCRAFT NOISE, ANNA HANSELL, SAYING: "We found around a 10 to 20 percent increased risk of both hospital admissions and deaths from heart disease and stroke, and that was associated both with the highest levels of the daytime noise and the highest levels of the night-time noise." Hansell says aircraft noise can reduce people's sleep and cause anxiety, while repeated exposure to sudden noises can cause what she calls, a 'startle reaction'. SOUNDBITE (English) LEAD AUTHOR OF STUDY ON AIRCRAFT NOISE, ANNA HANSELL, SAYING: "There's a startle reaction when you hear a loud noise, so your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure goes up, and it may be that if you're exposed to loud noise over a long period of time that your blood pressure just stays up rather than going back down again to normal." John Stewart, who leads a campaign to prevent further expansion of Heathrow, hopes the survey will lend weight to his cause. SOUNDBITE (English) CHAIR OF AIRCRAFT NOISE CAMPAIGN GROUP HACAN, JOHN STEWART, SAYING: "So many people living under the flight path tell us it affects their health. Sometimes it's people who are woken up every morning when the first plane comes in at five thirty, they can't sleep, they're stressed out. Other times, it's people during a day saying that this constant noise is really getting on their nerves, they're taking tablets, they feel stressed out and, I'm sure, as the study shows, it eventually affects their health." It's not just adults who are affected. Hounslow Heath Primary School has built noise-proof structures in the playground for pupils driven to distraction by aircraft overhead. UPSOT: PLANE ABOVE But not everybody is bothered by the noise. SOUNDBITE (English) HATTON CROSS RESIDENT, CLIVE THORP, SAYING: "I'm 70 now and I've lived here and near here, all my life, and I'm still going strong." SOUNDBITE (English) HOUNSLOW RESIDENT, SAYING: "They put nice windows, it's no noises, you can hear nothing here, it's no problem." A separate study conducted in the US has produced similar results, linking airport noise to higher hospital admission rates. But Anna Hansell says that while the results may be a cause for concern, other factors like smoking and poor diet are far worse.

Oct. 29 - UK researchers say long-term exposure to aircraft noise increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. A five year study focusing on the noise produced by planes flying in and out of Heathrow reveals a higher rate of hospitalisation for people living near the airport than for those who live in quieter environments. Jim Drury has more.

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J. Martinez Has Two Types of Gourmet Coffee in Men's Health Magazine's Top Five Brews for the Summer

    NORCROSS, GA, August 05, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The gourmet coffee supplier, J. Martinez, is honored to announce that two of the brews the firm carries have been highlighted in a recent Men's Health piece. The article talks about the best coffee brands buyers should consider purchasing for the summer, and the two the blue mountain coffee dealer have are Jamaican Blue Mountain Wallenford Estate and RSW Estate. Unique and extremely flavorful, both blends are made from the coffee beans grown in the Jamaican Blue Mountains, a place best known for its fertile soil and ideal climate. The brews produced in this region have garnered international status, as they are full of flavor with no bitterness.

The gourmet coffee dealers at J. Martinez note that they are proud to have their brand listed in the top echelons, falling alongside those such as Metropolis Ethiopia Yirgacheffe and Ritual Matalapa Mirador, both originating in Ethiopia in El Salvador respectively. If you want to try something new and give your taste buds a wake-up call, buying a bag of these gourmet specialty coffee blends is a definite must.

According to John Martinez, Owner of J. Martinez & Company, "Coffee production is an art, and these blends are illustrations of its perfected form. You really haven't tasted a good brew until having tried one of these. J. Martinez has many more blue mountain brews than the ones listed here, but I believe the author was spot on with their selections."

Whether you drink coffee to wake up in the morning or to relax, you won't have any problem with these top brews.

J. Martinez is an international supplier of kona coffee. To see a full listing of their inventory, feel free to visit http://www.martinezfinecoffees.com.

About J. Martinez & Company:
Established in 1988, J. Martinez & Company is an Atlanta-based purveyor of fine coffees and other gourmet items. J. Martinez & Company originated the concept of single estate coffees more than twenty years ago and still carries only the finest premium coffee beans from estates around the world, including Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and Kona coffee from Hawaii.

For more information, please visit http://www.martinezfinecoffees.com.

For all media inquiries, please contact:

Allie Petit
Content Manager
Cardinal Web Solutions
http://www.CardinalWebSolutions.com

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