HealthLawProf Blog

Food Stamp Participation Increases as Economy Lags

The Washington Post reports that latest federal statistics indicate that participation in the low-income nutrition supplement program has risen sharply, highlighting economic troubles.  Michael E. Ruane writes,

Almost a million more people participated in the federal government's food stamp program for the needy between April and July, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program.

The latest federal statistics indicate that nationally, participation in the low-income nutrition supplement program rose from 28.08 million in April to 29.05 million in July, the last month for which the figures are available, a department spokeswoman said.

The July figure is the highest since the all-time peak of 29.8 million in November 2005, in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, spokeswoman Jean Daniel said.

She said the current national numbers probably reflect economic troubles, such as the spring flooding in the Midwest, that were at work in the early summer and spring. There often is a delay of a few months after a crisis before people sign up for the program.

"From a historical perspective, it's usually a lag time of two to three months," she said.

Experts said yesterday that the figures also reflect the broader national economic distress.

"The economic downturn is the obvious reason that most people are turning to the food stamps program at this point," said Colleen M. Heflin, an assistant professor at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. "I think it's a much better barometer of the pain on Main Street than the larger economic barometers."

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Supreme Court Seeks Consultation on Food Labeling Law

The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Justice Department on Monday for advice on a bid by the nation's largest grocery chains to block customers from suing over violations of government food-labeling rules.  The Los Angeles Times writes,

Supermarkets led by Supervalu Inc., Safeway Inc. and Kroger Co. contend that only government regulators, and not customers, can enforce federal and state labeling laws. The companies are seeking to stop a suit accusing them of concealing that salmon they sold contained artificial coloring. The California Supreme Court cleared the customer suit to go forward.

In their appeal, the supermarkets said the California court ruling was "an open invitation to private plaintiffs nationwide to bring class actions."

The high court's request, directed to U.S. Solicitor Gen. Gregory Garre, signals that the justices may add the case to their 2008-09 docket.

The central question for the court in the new case is whether the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which governs food labeling at the federal level, bars private efforts to enforce similar state laws.

Bailout Provides More Mental Health Coverage

The New York Times reports that more than one-third of all Americans will soon receive better insurance coverage for mental health treatments because of a new law that, for the first time, requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses.  Robert Pear writes,

The requirement, included in the economic bailout bill that President Bush signed on Friday, is the result of 12 years of passionate advocacy by friends and relatives of people with mental illness and addiction disorders. They described the new law as a milestone in the quest for civil rights, an effort to end insurance discrimination and to reduce the stigma of mental illness.

Most employers and group health plans provide less coverage for mental health care than for the treatment of physical conditions like cancer, heart disease or broken bones. They will need to adjust their benefits to comply with the new law, which requires equivalence, or parity, in the coverage.

For decades, insurers have set higher co-payments and deductibles and stricter limits on treatment for addiction and mental illnesses.

By wiping away such restrictions, doctors said, the new law will make it easier for people to obtain treatment for a wide range of conditions, including depression, autism, schizophrenia, eating disorders and alcohol and drug abuse.

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Infertility Patients Caught in the Legal, Moral and Scientific Embryo Debate

The Los Angeles Times reports that an estimated 500,000 embryos are in cryopreservation in the US, showcasing the debate about what to do with unused embryos and the ambiguity of when life actually begins.  Shari Roan writes,

Six years of frustration and heartbreak. That's how Gina Rathan recalls her attempts to become pregnant.

Finally, she and her husband, Cheddi, conceived a daughter, now 3, through in vitro fertilization. About a year later, she became pregnant with a second child, naturally. Their family was complete.

Then, a year ago, the Fountain Valley couple received a bill reminding them that their infertility journey wasn't quite over. They owed $750 to preserve three frozen embryos they'd created but hadn't used.

"I don't see them as not being life yet," says Gina Rathan, 42, a pharmaceutical sales representative. "I thought, 'How can I discard them when I have a beautiful child from that IVF cycle?' "

Many other former infertility patients also appear to be grappling over the fate of embryos they have no plans to use: An estimated 500,000 embryos are in cryopreservation in the United States.

As with the Rathans, this unexpected conundrum often arises well after the infertility crisis has passed, triggering impassioned and highly personal debates about the science and ethics of human life. The discussion boils down to a fundamental question: What is this icy clump of cells smaller than a grain of sand?

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EPA Makes No Rule On Chemical in Water

The Washington Post reports that the EPA has refused to set a drinking-water safety standard for perhclorate, finding that in 99% of public drinking water systems, perchlorate was not at levels of public health concern.  Juliet Eilperin writes,

The Environmental Protection Agency formally refused yesterday to set a drinking-water safety standard for perchlorate, a chemical in rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and young children.

With little fanfare, the agency issued a news release yesterday afternoon saying that it had "conducted extensive review of scientific data related to the health effects of exposure to perchlorate from drinking water and other sources and found that in more than 99 percent of public drinking water systems, perchlorate was not at levels of public health concern. Therefore, based on the Safe Water Drinking Act criteria, the agency determined there is not a 'meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction' through a national drinking water regulation."

Last month, The Washington Post reported that White House officials had extensively edited the EPA's perchlorate rule-making documentation to remove scientific data highlighting some of the risks associated with the chemical, which has been found in water in 35 states. The Defense Department and Pentagon contractors who face legal liability stemming from rocket fuel contamination have lobbied for six years to avoid a federal drinking-water standard for perchlorate.

In the document released yesterday, the EPA assumes that the maximum safe perchlorate contamination level is 15 times higher than what the agency suggested in 2002.

By that standard, the EPA estimates that more than 16 million Americans are exposed to the chemical at a level that is unsafe.

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Largest study of US children to begin in January

The Washington Post reports that the largest study of U.S. children ever performed, aiming to track 100,000 from conception to age 21, will start recruiting mothers-to-be in North Carolina and New York in January.  The Washington Post reports,

The ambitious National Children's Study aims to learn how the environment and other factors affect youngsters' health, especially development of such conditions as autism, asthma, learning disabilities, diabetes and obesity. Scientists will examine a range of factors, from the diets of pregnant women and young children to the effects of chemicals used in plastics.

Tight budgets from Congress have delayed the project, which in 2004 began selecting 105 locations where women and their children can participate.

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Federal Court Upholds San Francisco Healthcare Program

The Los Angeles Times reports that a federal appeals panel upheld San Francisco's citywide healthcare program, concluding that the law does not violate federal regulations on employee benefit programs.  Marc Lifsher writes,

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ongoing effort to create a universal health insurance system for California got a major boost Tuesday when a federal appeals panel upheld San Francisco's pioneering citywide healthcare program.

Ruling on a suit brought by a local restaurant association, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that fees charged to employers under the 10-month-old San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance do not violate federal laws regulating employee benefit programs.

The San Francisco ordinance, which took effect Jan. 9, requires for-profit employers with 20 or more workers to offer health insurance, set aside funds in health reimbursement accounts or pay a fee to the city's Healthy San Francisco program. Nonprofit employers with 50 or more staffers are also covered.

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FDA Sets Safety Threshold for Contaminant Melamine

The Washington Post reports that the FDA, concerned with the amount of melamine in food coming from china, has set 2.5 parts per million as the maximum "tolerable" amount of melamine that could be safely consumed in other foods.  Marc Kaufman writes,

Responding to concerns about the presence of the contaminant melamine in numerous foods made in China and exported to the United States and elsewhere, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that consuming a very small amount of the chemical poses no serious risk.

The exception, officials said, is melamine in baby formula, which has sickened more than 54,000 infants in China. The agency said it was unable to determine what a safe amount of melamine in formula might be.

The FDA set 2.5 parts per million as the maximum "tolerable" amount of melamine that could be safely consumed in other foods.

"It would be like if you had a million grains of sand and they were all white, and you had two or three that were black, that's kind of the magnitude," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's food safety program.

Several melamine-contaminated foods found in recent weeks in the United States had far more of the chemical.

Melamine levels in imported Chinese candies recalled last week in California, for instance, were as high as 520 parts per million. White Rabbit candies from China were recalled after authorities in California and Connecticut found melamine. And Friday, a New Jersey company announced that it was recalling a yogurt-type drink from China -- Blue Cat Flavor Drink -- after FDA testing found melamine.

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FDA: No Quick Decision on Cold Medicines for Kids

The Washington Post reports that FDA officials said they were uncomfortable with the lack of solid scientific data to support continued use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for young children.  Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar writes,

A top government health official Thursday rejected pediatricians' calls for an immediate ban on over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for young children, saying it might cause unintended harm.

But Food and Drug Administration officials at a public hearing also said they were uncomfortable with the lack of solid scientific data to support continued use of OTC remedies with youngsters, particularly from ages 2-6.

A ban, as sought by leading pediatricians' groups, might only drive parents to give adult medicines to their youngsters, said Dr. John Jenkins, who heads the FDA's Office of New Drugs.

"That is a concern for us," said Jenkins. "We do not want to do something that we think will have a positive impact, only to have an unintended negative. That could be an even worse situation."

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California to Cover Cost of Screening for H.I.V.

The New York Times reports that Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill requiring private health insurance providers to cover the cost of HIV testing regardless of a primary diagnosis, making California the closest state to instituting routine HIV screening.  Rebecca Cathcart writes,

As soon as next year, health care providers in California will no longer have to manipulate the codes on insurance forms to goad private insurers into paying for the tests that screen for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

Removing the cost barrier is a major step toward making H.I.V. screening more prevalent and, in the process, removing the fear and stigma long attached to the test.

“This kind of test should be as routine as a cholesterol or blood pressure test,” said Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, the author of the bill. “It should be a part of basic preventative health care.”

The law, said Mr. Krekorian, a Democrat, brings California closer to the routine H.I.V. testing recommended in a 2006 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year, California stopped requiring hospital patients to give written consent before being tested for H.I.V. That change, along with this guaranteed cost coverage, Mr. Krekorian said, will eliminate the barriers to routine screening.

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