NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

The National Coalition of Assistive and Rehab Technology held a Capitol Hill press briefing in late September to push Congress for passage of H.R. 2231, the Medicare Access to Complex Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Act. The proposed legislation would exempt those products from competitive bidding. More than a dozen complex rehab users who joined NCART members, congressmen and other advocates backing the carve-out bill told the press that the Medicare bidding program would undercut the quality of life for thousands of people with disabilities by creating a “one size fits all” category for the equipment. Shown, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., one of the bill’s 22 cosponsors, speaks with a consumer who attended the event.

$150
Amount IBM plans to pay employees whose children complete a 12-week online program of diet and exercise

Source: Wall Street Journal

77.9
Number of years a child born in the U.S. in 2005 can expect to live — a new high

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

12 million
People are expected to have osteoporosis by 2010.

Source: National Osteoporosis Foundation

11.3%
Portion of the GDP Medicare costs are expected to reach by 2081, compared to 3.1 percent today

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute

0.5%
Amount by which Medicaid enrollment has declined — the first time it has gone down in nearly a decade — though spending has grown by 2.9 percent

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

Women
who regularly get fewer than seven hours of sleep each night may have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

Source: Hypertension

Boiled
Healthiest way to eat peanuts, according to scientists who say boiling them increases phyto-chemicals high in cancer- and heart disease-fighting antioxidants

Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry