U.S. and state health insurance programs are getting bigger. In fact, they will pay more than half of the U.S. health care bill by 2012, a report released this week said. New research found that some people in a vegetative state may have some awareness. Another new study concluded that one type of abstinence-only sex education program may help to delay teen sex. And other research found that fish oil may help to prevent schizophrenia in people with warning symptoms.
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Government Soon To Pay Most of U.S. Health Bill
Whether Congress passes health reform or not, government will pay more than half the bill for U.S. health care by 2012. That's the main conclusion of a report released this week. Medicare number crunchers prepared the analysis, the Associated Press reported. They assumed that Medicare will cut doctors' fees by 20% this year, as a 1990s budget law requires. But Congress has waived the cuts in past years. Therefore, the shift could come earlier. Most of the recent growth was in Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people. Medicaid is funded by the state and federal governments. The report said Medicaid grew nearly 10% in 2009 as people lost jobs. Congress also has expanded coverage for children of the working poor. And Medicare is growing as more Baby Boomers retire. The report appeared in the journal Health Affairs.

Newer Tests Show Awareness for Some in Vegetative State
Some people thought to be in a persistent vegetative state may have some degree of awareness, research released this week has found. The new study included 23 people in a vegetative state. People in this state can't move on command or follow an object with their eyes, which are open. Another 31 people in the study were diagnosed as minimally conscious. This means they show occasional small signs of awareness. People were given a type of brain scan called functional MRI. During the scan they were asked to think about two very different scenes. Each scene would light up a different area of the brain on the scan. Then they were asked questions. They were told to think about one scene if the answer was "yes" and the other to indicate "no." Five people were able to do this, researchers said. Four of them were in the vegetative state group. The study included only people who had brain injuries. It did not include people who had damage from lack of oxygen. The Associated Press wrote about the study. It appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Program Reports Success
An experimental form of abstinence-only sex education may delay sex among teens, a study released this week concluded. Unlike abstinence programs studied in the past, this one did not urge delaying sex until marriage, the Associated Press said. It also did not discourage the use of condoms. The program focused on helping kids to see the drawbacks to having sex at their age. People in the study were in sixth and seventh grades. They were randomly assigned to one of four programs. The classes taught abstinence-only, safe sex, a combination of the two, or general good health practices. Results from the first three groups were compared with those in the fourth group. Two years later, about one-third of the abstinence-only group said they had had sex since the classes ended. Just under half of the other three groups said they had had sex. The study appeared in the journal Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

Fish Oil May Help Prevent Schizophrenia
Fish oil pills may help people at risk of schizophrenia to avoid the disease, a small study released this week suggests. The study included 81 teens and young adults. All had warning signs of psychosis. They were randomly assigned to take either fish oil pills or fake pills (placebos). Within a year, 5% of the group taking fish oil and 28% of those who got fake pills had become psychotic. No one knows what causes schizophrenia. One theory is that it may be related to a problem in how the body processes fatty acids. A larger study is now under way, the Associated Press reported. The study was in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

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