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Biotech / Medical : Eli Lilly -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (258)	7/1/1998 9:04:00 AM
From: Thai Chung	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 642

Medicare adds new osteoporosis and diabetes benefits July 1 By ALICE ANN LOVE The Associated Press 07/01/98 7:41 AM Eastern WASHINGTON (AP) -- Elderly and disabled Americans covered by Medicare can get help paying for osteoporosis screenings and diabetes management starting today. Congress and President Clinton agreed to the new Medicare benefits in last year's balanced budget deal. Beneficiaries using them will be responsible for the program's usual deductibles and co-payments. About half of American women over age 50 suffer from osteoporosis -- a disease that robs bones of calcium, making them brittle -- or the low bone mass that precedes it. Men also can be afflicted, and Medicare spends 3 percent of its $200 billion budget treating broken bones related to the disease. Now, Medicare beneficiaries at risk will be able to get bone density screenings once every two years, with the full range of measurement devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration covered across the country. "These simple, painless tests are better predictors of the risk of fracture than ... blood pressure is for stroke, yet they are currently used even less frequently," said Dr. Robert Lindsay, president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. In the past, bone density tests have been covered only in some places under Medicare's policy of gradually instituting most new benefits as medical advances are accepted by local doctors. Medicare also will offer new help for the 12 percent of beneficiaries who have diabetes reimbursement for blood-sugar monitors, testing strips and lancets. Diabetes impairs the body's ability to produce or respond properly to insulin, a hormone that helps convert sugar in the bloodstream into energy. Until now, Medicare has covered monitoring supplies only for diabetics requiring insulin injections. Now, other diabetics who manage their disease using diet and exercise or oral medication will also be covered when a doctor prescribes self-testing. Medicare will also cover self-care training sessions for diabetics in doctors offices or clinics. In the past, only hospital-based training programs were covered.