Health Highlights: Nov. 9, 2008

• Bush Administration Tightening Medicaid Regulations
• Vice President Cheney Undergoes More Tests - But Not for His Heart
• Men Unaffected by Images of Male Models: Study
• Contaminated Heparin Seized From Cincinnati Company
• N. Dakota Warns About Lead in Wild Game Meat
• Pfizer Halts Testing on Anti-Obesity Drug

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Bush Administration Tightening Medicaid Regulations

The Bush administration is tightening up on some outpatient Medicaid payments to hospitals, seemingly in conflict with post-election goals of President-elect Barack Obama, the New York Times reports.

Included in the services scheduled for reduction in Medicaid payments are some types of outpatient care, such as dental and vision treatment, the newspaper reports. State governments, which administer Medicaid payments to hospitals, rely heavily on federal funding. Medicaid provides financing for medical services to poor people.

The notice of new Medicaid rules was published Friday in The Federal Register and was justified by the Bush administration as being necessary because the old regulations on outpatient service were ambiguous and could cause the states to claim excessive payments, the Times reports.

Reaction to the new regulations was swift. "This is a disaster for safety-net institutions like ours," John W. Bluford III, the president of Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, Mo., told the newspaper.

"The new rule forces us to consider reducing some outpatient services like dental and vision care," Alan D. Aviles president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, told the Times. "State and local government cannot pick up these costs. If anything, we expect to see additional cuts at the state level," he warned.

At his first post-election news conference, Obama said he was in favor of federal assistance to state and local governments in order to avoid worker layoffs and local tax increases.

-----

Vice President Cheney Undergoes More Tests - But Not for His Heart

Vice President Dick Cheney was scheduled to be heading back to the hospital for more tests, but this time, the problem is located somewhat lower than his heart.

Cheney was scheduled to undergo an examination over the weekend for his arthritic knees, the Associated Press reports.

This will include X-rays, which are part of a diagnostic procedure to determine what treatment the Vice president should have, the wire service reports. "He has had long-standing arthritis in his knees and the doctors have been trying to schedule a time to have his knees X-rayed," the A.P. quotes Megan Mitchell, the vice president's spokeswoman, as saying.

Cheney was to have the tests at the Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base after he returned from a speaking engagement, and he was then scheduled to go home to St. Michael's Md. after the tests were completed, the wire service reports.

The Vice President, 67, has a long history of heart problems, including 4 heart attacks since he was 37-years-old. He has a special pacemaker implanted in his chest and was treated for an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation, last month. The last time his knees were X-rayed was more than three years ago, the A.P. reports.

-----

Men Unaffected by Images of Male Models: Study

While ads featuring female models can have a negative effect on how women view themselves, the same isn't true for men who see images of male models, according to new research.

Researchers had male volunteers view male magazine layouts that featured either objectified women, male fashion, or technology and film trivia, United Press International reported.

"Men who viewed the layouts of objectified females reported more body self-consciousness than the other two groups," said Jennifer Aubrey of the University of Missouri. "More surprising was that the male fashion group reported the least amount of body self-consciousness among the three groups."

Among men, the cultural expectation is not that they have to be as attractive as their peers, but need to be attractive enough to be sexually appealing to women, Aubrey concluded, UPI reported.