No Higher Premiums for Those with History of Med Problems? In a surprising but welcomed turn, the health insurance industry has taken the unprecedented step of offering similar premiums to people with pre-existing medical problems as those with no reported medical history. The offer, from America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, “is a potentially significant shift in the debate over reforming the nation’s health care system to rein in costs and cover an estimated 48 million uninsured people,” The Associated Press reports. The proposal was contained in a letter to key senators, according to AP, in which the insurance giants said their members would “phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market” if all Americans are required to get coverage. “The offer here is to transition away from risk rating, which is one of the things that makes life hell for real people,” said health economist Len Nichols of the New America Foundation public policy center. “They have never in their history offered to give up risk rating.”

Baby Products Recalled Two baby items are being recalled because they are potentially harmful to infants, MSNBC reports. Fisher-Price is recalling tens of thousands of 3-in-1 high chairs because the seat can fall backward from the frame if the release is unlatched while a child is inside, and several thousand Baby Necessities pacifiers are being pulled from shelves because they failed safety tests, MSNBC reports. The high chairs have seat backs that can detach if not snapped fully into place. In at least one instance, a detached seat back resulted in a fractured skull. The high chairs, which were manufactured in Mexico, were sold at Target stores around the country between December 2008 and March 2009. Nearly 3,000 of the pacifiers, manufactured in China and imported by OKK Trading of Los Angeles, Calif., pose a serious problem, as the nipples can separate from the base and present a choking hazard. No incidents have been reported. The pacifiers were sold at dollar and discount stores around the country between August 2007 and January 2009. For information about the high chairs, contact 800-432-5437 or http://www.service.mattel.com or http://www.cpsc.gov. Regarding the pacifiers, phone 877-655-8697 or http://www.okktrading.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

Here’s yet another reason to catch those Zzzzs.
Sleepless teens risk high blood pressure. Teens who don’t get enough sleep or have poor-quality sleep run the risk of elevated blood pressure, a new study finds. It’s the first study to make such a connection, said the study’s senior author, Dr. Susan Redline, director of the University Hospitals Sleep Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “In adults, there has been evidence that less than six hours of sleep a night was associated with high blood pressure levels,” said Redline, who is professor of medicine and pediatrics at Case Western Reserve. “No study has been done in adolescents.” Redline and her colleagues studied 238 boys and girls, ages 13 to 16, asking about their sleep habits. They found that 11 percent of them slept less than 6.5 hours a night, and 26 percent had poor “sleep efficiency,” with frequent awakenings at night. One of every seven teens in the study had either hypertension, which is high blood pressure, greater than 120 over 80, or borderline high blood pressure called pre-hypertension. Teens with less than 85 percent sleep efficiency had nearly three times the odds of high blood pressure, the researchers reported. “That was one of the more unique findings, that poor sleep quality is associated with high blood pressure,” Redline said.

Don’t drink too much Red Bull. Too much of a good thing isn’t always good, scientists in Australia found. Too much of the popular Red Bull energy drink may lead to heart damage, they say, after studying 30 university students, ages 20 to 24. The researchers found that drinking just one 250 ml sugar-free can of the caffeinated drink boosted the “stickiness” of the blood and increased the risk of blood clots. After drinking Red Bull, the students had a cardiovascular profile similar to that of someone with heart disease, The Times of London reported. The results were alarming and suggest that older adults with symptoms of heart disease shouldn’t drink too much Red Bull, said study author Scott Willoughby, of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Adelaide University. In a statement, Red Bull officials said the drink had been proved safe by numerous scientific studies, and that it had never been banned from anywhere it had been introduced, the Times reported. Red Bull is sold in 143 countries but is banned in Norway, Denmark and some other countries due to health concerns.

Chemical used in baby bottles is safe. A chemical used in the making of baby bottles and other food containers is not dangerous, U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers have decided. FDA scientists have confirmed the agency’s original decision that the chemical bisphenol A, which hardens plastic, is not a threat to either infants or adults. The European Food Safety Authority made a similar finding in late July. Trace amounts of bisphenol A have been found to leach into food containers, the FDA acknowledged, but the agency’s scientists said they found no evidence that such small amounts were harmful, The Associated Press reports. The FDA findings are not the final word, according to AP. A September meeting is scheduled, at which experts outside the FDA will debate bisphenol A’s safety. The FDA itself has kept the issue open. More research is needed because “there are always uncertainties associated with safety decisions,” AP quotes the FDA as saying.