The Health News USA August 4 2017

Overview

• When media mogul Oprah Winfrey weighed more than two hundred pounds, she wanted to lean on the body positivity movement to feel comfortable about her weight but she couldn’t do it without risking her health. She purchased a 10% stake in Weight Watchers in October 2015 before starting the program herself.
• The Justice Department will dispatch 12 federal prosecutors to cities ravaged by addiction who will focus exclusively on investigating health care fraud and opioid scams that are fueling the nation’s drug abuse epidemic.  The Health Department says opioid-related overdoses killed 3,050 people in Ohio in 2015.
• Democratic and Republican U.S. governors urged the Trump administration and Congress to continue funding payments to health insurance companies that make Obamacare plans affordable, calling it critical to stabilizing the insurance marketplace.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 4th of August 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health New

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/healthtrending/oprah-says-her-body-positivity-has-limits-i-can%E2%80%99t-accept-myself-if-i%E2%80%99m-over-200-lbs/ar-AApjRXM

When Oprah Winfrey weighed more than two hundred pounds, she wanted to lean on the body positivity movement to feel comfortable about her weight but she couldn’t do it without risking her health. Winfrey, sixty three told The New York Times magazine that for your heart to pump, pump, pump, pump, it needs the least amount of weight possible to do that. She also states that I need to accept myself as I am — I can’t accept myself if I’m over two hundred pounds, because it’s too much work on my heart. It causes high blood pressure for me. It puts me at risk for diabetes, because I have diabetes in my family.

The media mogul who purchased a ten percent stake in Weight Watchers in October two thousand fifteen before starting the program herself  says the current trend to stay away from terms like “diet” or “skinny” while stressing body acceptance is not so simple to follow.

Winfrey told People in January that she’s down forty two point five pounds , and she’s “finally made peace with food,” after just over a year on the program.“ This has been the easiest process that I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “At no time during meals do I deprive myself.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ag-sessions-address-opioid-epidemic-hard-hit-ohio-48980919

The Justice Department will dispatch twelve federal prosecutors to cities ravaged by addiction who will focus exclusively on investigating health care fraud and opioid scams that are fueling the nation’s drug abuse epidemic, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday. He unveiled the pilot program during a speech in hard-hit Ohio, where eight people a day die of accidental overdoses. He said that in recent years some of the government officials in our country I think have mistakenly sent mixed messages about the harmfulness of drugs

Sessions said the group of prosecutors he has dubbed the “opioid fraud and abuse detection unit” will rely on data in their efforts to root out pill mills and track down doctors and other health care providers who illegally prescribe or distribute narcotics such as fentanyl and other powerful painkillers. Such prescription opioids are behind the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in U.S. history. More than fifty two thousand Americans died of overdoses in two thousand and fifteen— a record — and experts believe the numbers have continued to rise. Sessions has made aggressive prosecutions of drug crime a top priority, saying the deadly overdoses necessitate a return to tougher tactics.

The Health Department says opioid-related overdoses killed three thousand fifty people in Ohio in two thousand fifteen, with that number expected to jump sharply for two thousand sixteen.

The budget proposals of President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans and efforts to repeal Obamacare, including the expansion of Medicaid, “would likely make the opioid epidemic worse,” said Mandy McClure, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2017-08-02/us-governors-urge-trump-to-make-health-insurance-payments

Democratic and Republican U.S. governors on Wednesday urged the Trump administration, as well as Congress, to continue funding payments to health insurance companies that make Obamacare plans affordable, calling it critical to stabilizing the insurance marketplace.

In a statement, governors joined insurers pressuring Republican President Donald Trump to stand down from threats to cut off about eight billion dollars in subsidies that help keep down costs for low-income Americans under the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic initiative also referred to as Obamacare.

The Health and Human Services Committee of the National Governors Association said in a statement that the administration has the opportunity to stabilize the health insurance market across our nation and ensure that our residents can continue to access affordable health care coverage.
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The committee is led by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican. Earlier this year, the governors sent a letter calling on Congress to fully fund the cost-sharing payments.
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White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told CNN on Wednesday the administration was still considering whether to end the cost-sharing subsidies.
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An appeals court has allowed a group of Democratic state attorneys general to defend the subsidy payments in a case filed by the Republican-led House of Representatives, potentially making it more difficult for the administration to settle the case.