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Health Care Facts Versus Fears; Health Care Co-ops; College Student Gives Back After Spine Injury; Herbs Can be Toxic When Mixed With Certain Meds

Aired August 22, 2009 - 07:30   ET



First up, are the proposed changes to health care really going to keep your grandmother from getting the care she needs? Coming up, I'll address that issue.



You're watching HOUSE CALL.


GUPTA: First up, we're separating facts from fears in the health care debate. It can be a huge challenge and something we're dedicated to here on HOUSE CALL. We're committed not only to giving you the facts but also solutions as well.

You know, there's a term that comes up a lot when talking about health care reform. That term is "rationing." What exactly does that mean?

I decided to go to the intensive care unit at Southern Regional Hospital to try to find out. What I heard, though, was a tale of three sisters.




CAROLYN MCCOY, PATIENT: I'm concerned with it.

GUPTA: Tell me why.


GUPTA (voice-over): It's not true, though a lot of people think so. A look at the reform bill in Congress, there's no mention of that, no mention of rationing, no mention of the government making so- called end-of-life decisions for seniors.






MCCOY: Oh, certainly. Certainly.

GUPTA: Do you feel that for real?



GUPTA: So quite a few operations.

MCCOY: Yes, I have.

GUPTA: How are you doing?

MCCOY: Oh, I'm doing great.

GUPTA: Here's where it gets a little difficult. Helen, the older sister, 82 years old, also had a hip replacement. But now, she's in the intensive care unit with problems with her heart and problems with her kidney as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doing the best I can.


UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. GUPTA: The three sisters have had more than 13 operations over the years, costing close to $250,000. I asked Carolyn, is it worth it?


THORPE: There's no change in any of these pieces of legislation that would take the power away from the patient and the physician ultimately making whatever choice is best for them.





GUPTA: You know, as much as we talk about policy, talk about all of these numbers, a question we keep hearing: what if this were your grandmother, what if this were your mother? It's the art of medicine.

Now, Senate health care negotiators have been focused on co-ops as an alternative to a public option. But would this kind of insurance actually work on a national level? But what we do know is that supporters point to a co-op in Washington State as a model for all of this.

Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash took a closer look.


DR. ERIC SEAVER, GROUP HEALTH COOPERATIVE: I'm going to give you one of my cards.

DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dr. Eric Seaver, giving out his card is a ticket to more efficient health care.

SEAVER: I do 350 or more e-mails a month with patients. It saves them having to get in the car to come over here.

BASH: Dr. Seaver says he can take time to e-mail patients because he's paid a flat salary, not per office visit, and uses electronic records to collaborate with colleagues.

SEAVER: We have primary care, specialty care, pharmacies, physical therapy, all of the home care, all of those services and we are able to communicate and coordinate our care.

DANA: This is Group Health, a cooperative in Washington State, which supporters of a co-op approach to health care call a model. How does it work? Group Health is a not-for-profit health plan governed by its consumers, patients. Its 11-member board is elected by co-op members. The co-op covers 600,000 people.

A central question is: Will this kind of co-op in Washington State work nationwide?

A key Senate supporter says experts tell him "yes."

SEN. KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: They think there would be 12 million members in very short order, that it would become the third largest insurer in the country, and would provide meaningful competition.

BASH (on camera): Do you believe that?


BASH: Why not?

JOST: Because I just can't imagine how that would happen if...

BASH (voice-over): But this health care expert says it would be tough to convince enough patients to enroll and enough doctors to participate.

JOST: All of the things that you have to do to start up an insurance company are not the kind of things that just a group of people getting together at the diner on Saturday morning and saying, "Let's start a co-op," can do.

BASH (on camera): You just don't see it happening.

JOST: You just don't see it happen.

BASH (voice-over): What about another central goal: providing competition to insurance companies that leads to lower costs? Again, skepticism.

JOST: It's going to be very unlikely that a co-op is going to get better rates out of providers than a commercial insurer.

BASH: But back at the Group Health co-op, they say streamline systems have led to reduced costs. The reality is, it has taken 60 years for this co-op to build success.

(on camera): When it comes to both the policy and the politics of health care, it's hard to see patients for a couple of years, much less 60 years, for co-ops to get up and running and be successful. Right now, Senate negotiators are talking about providing $6 billion of seed money for co-ops but many experts think it would take a whole lot more.

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA: You can check out our special "Health Care in America" section at CNN.com. You're going to get the latest town hall debates, fact checks and other health care news that you can really use. Just go to CNN.com/healthcare.

Also later today, a CNN special report called "Extreme Challenges: Health Care." Anderson Cooper, a panel of experts and myself -- we're going to dig down into what is fact, what is fiction, and how Congress might reach a consensus.

Another hot topic on everyone's mind: the swine flu vaccine. Right now as we speak, volunteers are being vaccinated for the H1N1 virus, but it could be Thanksgiving before many of the rest of us can get a swine flu shot.

Now, federal health officials say there won't be nearly as much vaccine on hand by mid-October as they had had originally thought, 45 million doses instead of the anticipated 120 million. But Health and Human Services Spokesman Bill Hall says there will be enough to achieve the primary goals. He also said this is a delay in manufacturing, not a shortage.

Knowing your heart rate. Well, that will give you certain clues to a healthy heart. We'll tell you how to do it.

And you may not know this. But the foods you eat could be mixing dangerously with your medication. Did you know this? We'll have it for you later.

Stay with HOUSE CALL.


MATTHEW SANCHEZ, 20 YEARS OLD: I knew I could do it, kind of from the beginning. It was definitely a daunting task. I knew it would be hard and I definitely was scared of the challenges ahead.


GUPTA: And next, meet a young man who fought back from injury. It's a remarkable story. He's giving back to his doctors and to injured troops as well in a remarkably special way.


GUPTA: We're back with HOUSE CALL.

Imagine this -- you're just a teenager, can't even drive yet, and then you receive a life-threatening and life-altering injury. What do you do?




(on camera): Can you just paint a picture for me what happened this particular evening?

SANCHEZ: The running back was coming around on a sleeve and right before I hit the running back, the full back knocked my legs out from under me and I actually just kind of went horizontal and hit him with my head down. But a really sharp pain went through my body after I hit him and I hit the ground. It felt like an explosion went off in my body.

GUPTA: I'm kind of scared, you know, just hearing it. I mean, were you scared? I mean, you're so calm now. Were you scared?


GUPTA: Matthew was unable to move. You can take a look at his X-ray over here. Doctors here at Shepherd determined that he had a fracture at his C-5 bone. And that's what was causing the problem.

And Dr. Donald is the medical director here. He's made an amazing recovery.

But what are we looking at specifically?





SANCHEZ: I would probably spend maybe 30 minutes out of an hour and then come back after 30 minutes, just kind of rest and recover. It's surprising. It doesn't look like very far, but it will take a lot out of you. It doesn't take long to wear you out.






SANCHEZ: Just wanted a doctor that was responsible for holding my head for 45 minutes on the field, actually, his son passed away in Afghanistan, Dr. Henderson's son. You know, so -- that's, you know, kind of a tribute to him. But on top of it, these men and women are over there doing things -- regardless of whether we feel it's right or wrong -- they're over there risking their lives every day. We feel that they deserve the best treatment possible.

GUPTA: Since its inception last spring, the program has welcomed about 100 injured veterans and soldiers, many of them wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their stories help keep Matthew Sanchez pedaling on his two-month journey across the United States. And in part two, we'll hear from one of the soldiers he helped.




GUPTA: Welcome back to HOUSE CALL.




(voice-over): Now medically-retired, U.S. Army Private Dillon Cannon had been in Iraq less than a month when he was shot by a sniper in 2006. It fractured the vertebrae in his neck, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. Two years later, he ended up here at the Shepherd Center.

CANNON: I knew I could be fine if I could do stuff on my own. Because, you know, once I'm a little bit older, you know, and parents aren't there to help, you have to know how to take care of yourself.

GUPTA: Cannon is independent now -- thanks to the Shepherd Center's Share Initiative and donors, like Matthew Sanchez. CANNON: People doing stuff on their own time to raise money to help us out? It just shows that there's good, kind-hearted people out there that will, you know, go above and beyond what they need to do to help out somebody else.

GUPTA (on camera): Other people will watch something like this and say, "Why does Matthew get to recover and so many others don't?" Why do you think?



CANNON: Some people just get better and carry on with their daily lives and then, you know, not even look back at what, you know, got them here and why military personnel. But out of the kindness of his heart, it shows that people like that, you know, go above and beyond what they have to do. He could be working making money for himself right now. And he's trying to help out people, you know, like me.


SANCHEZ: I couldn't think of a better way to give back. I don't think anybody can deny that these men and women are very brave and risking their lives on a day-to-day basis. And regardless of how you feel about that, it certainly is important that we support them and offer them the best care possible.


GUPTA: I'll tell you, Matthew Sanchez is a remarkable young man and he's doing very well. Good luck, Matthew.


And for all you herb lovers out there -- beware, they can sometimes be dangerous if mixed with certain drugs. Stay tuned for that.


Stay with HOUSE CALL.


GUPTA: Welcome back to HOUSE CALL.


I want to give you some examples: grapefruit, chocolate and licorice. Now, grapefruit is a great nutrient-rich food, but when combined with certain medications that treat high blood pressure, anxiety, insomnia, malaria, they can become dangerous. The reason is a chemical in grape fruit seems to boost these medications, making it more common to suffer from side effects.



So, check with your pharmacist about avoiding interaction.

Something else to be aware of, and that's herbs. Many people think of it, as an herb, it must be safe. That's not always the case. Herbs can cause toxic reactions on their own or even when mixed with certain medications.



ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sanjay, Americans spend nearly $15 billion a year on supplements. Everything from herbs to vitamins to fish oil to glucosamine, we seem to be crazy about them.



Also, taking certain herbs before surgery is a problem. I spoke to a surgeon who said that he was operating on someone, all of a sudden, there was all of this bleeding, he didn't know why. It was because his patient was taking an herb and hadn't told him. That leads us to failing to inform your doctor or your surgeon that you're taking herbs is really a problem. They may be describing something to you that might be interfering with that herb or vice versa -- that's really big no-no. Now, let's take a look. I have a list of a whole bunch of herbs and supplements that you need to be careful. Let's talk about two of them. St. John's Wart, which is often taken for depression, can alter the potency of certain prescription drugs. So, it's important you tell your doctor you're taking it. Also, Kava has been linked to liver problems.



GUPTA: All right, Elizabeth. Thanks.





GUPTA: All right. So, did you count your heart rate during the break? If you came up with a number between 60 and 80, your resting heart rate is about average. Let me tell you how this works. Blood transports oxygen throughout your body, it picks up the oxygen in your lungs and delivers it to all kind of cells in your body from your finger nails to hair follicles. The more efficient your body is at distributing oxygen, the lower your heart rate is going to be.


Now, if your heart rate was above 80, it doesn't necessarily mean you're unfit. You have a lot of caffeine, you're under a lot of stress -- your heart rate is going to be higher. However, a higher -- a higher resting pulse could mean that your fitness level is not quite up-to-par, and we're here to help you change that.

As I get closer to my 40th birthday, something I've been focusing on is heart rate target training. It's actually pretty simple to do. First of all, calculate your maximum heart rate. The way that you do that, you subtract your age from the number 220. So, mine would be 180.

Now, you calculate a range between 60 percent and 70 percent of that number. Mine would be from 108 to 126. Try and keep your pulse rate in that range while you work out. You can get a simple heart rate monitor to wear while you're exercise or many cardio machines have heart rate monitors as well.

The longer your keep your body at that target heart rate, the more efficient your cardiovascular system will become, and overall, the fitter you will be.



GUPTA: We are back with HOUSE CALL. Time for my favorite segment of the show, "Ask the Doctor."


This week, we have a skull X-ray. And I want to point out a couple things to you. First of all, let's orient you. This is a patient who's lying on their back, here's the skull obviously, the eyes would be up here, and this is the spine, you can see it over here.





Thanks for watching. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

More news on CNN starts right now.
