European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes thursday october 8.19b7 personnel squeeze blamed for Navy health care woes Washington a the problems in the Navy s health care system arc caused chiefly by limits on the number of personnel in the health care service Navy Secretary James Webb said tuesday. Medical manpower growth hat lagged behind the demand for care because the Navy has necessarily concentrated its manpower growth to Man expansion of the Fleck to 600 ships Webb told he House armed services manpower subcommittee. The manpower problems have been a Long time inthe making and the solutions will certainly not be easy he said. The requirement to care for All beneficiaries without concurrent expansion of staff to pro vide that care has resulted in significant  Webb s testimony came us the subcommittee re turned to Washington after holding a series of hearings in Navy and Marine corps cities such As Norfolk va.,and Camp Lejeune . Service families aired complaints about service health care. The personnel shortage has Arisen chiefly because during the Reagan administration s buildup from 450 ships to a 600-ship Fleet most of the major financial requests have been for shipbuilding and related projects. There have been no major increases sought in Man Power totals and Congress has gone along of refusing to permit More personnel. As of aug. 31, the Navy had587,527 people on Active duty. Webb said adequate Active component manpower increases to meet the peacetime demand in the Short run probably cannot be realized therefore an appropriate balance of Active duty contracting Reserve participation cooperation with the other services Federal agencies and private sector health care organizations must be utilized to wive the problem. One of the biggest problems is obstetrical can he said and the current workload far exceeds our ability to provide  the recent answer he said has been to use the civilian health and medical program of the uniformed services. Champs pays for a Large pan of our obstetric care and is the most expensive alternative Webb said. We arc examining alternative Means for provid ing substantially More obstetric care in House and contracting for another sizable proportion of that which we now buy through the champs program millions of dollars in unnecessary disability benefits paid Gao says Washington a the government probably distributed 1200 million in unnecessary disability benefits last year three times the amount it save through staff reductions the general accounting of fice said tuesday. Because of the staff reductions the Gao said there were 216,000 reviews in fiscal i9s7 to determine whether people on the social Security disability Roll were Able to return to work. That was less than half the 478,000 reviews projected in the initial budget for fiscal 1987, the congressional Agency said in a report released at a ways an Means social Security subcommittee hearing. Not processing these reviews May Cost the Trust fund Over 1200 million in annual Benefit payments or about three times the administrative costs saved by not doing the reviews Franklin Frinier associate director of the Gao said in testimony to the panel. The same situation probably will exist in fiscal year1988," Frazier said unless the social Security administration gives slates More Money for staff to conduct the disability reviews. Continuing disability reviews Are legally required every three years to assess whether people on the disability Rolls whose conditions Are not permanent have improved enough to return to the work Force. Congress last year reduced the fiscal 1987 sea Bud get request of j4 billion by $171 million. To save part of that Money sea put restrictions on the slate Agen cies hat determine if people still Are disabled. The result Frazier said Wai reduced staff Levels in40 of the 54 stale agencies and 3.7 percent fewer work Yean for fiscal 1987 than the year before. Frazier said sea plans to make another 3.5 percent reduction in staff resources in fiscal 1988, which began oct. To despite s growing backlog of a reviewed Case. He said there Are More than 300,000 medical improvement cases overdue for review and new cases Are coming due Al the rate of 12,500 a month. Average rat of review Al this Point is about 6.100 per month Fra Zier said. Citing sea estimates Frazier said the disability insurance Trust fund mails out up to $9 million in unnecessary benefits for every 10,000 cases that arc not review. He said Benefit Are Cut Oft in about 20 percent of the cases reviewed. David rust sea s associate commissioner for disability said the number of reviews conducted in final 1987 fell below High water Marks in 1982 and 1983.but above the Low Point in 1981. He said his Agency s record is sound. We have managed our work and our resource Well he said. New study gives Nutrasweet High Marks in dieting programs Boston apr the popular sugar substitute no Ira Sweet does t destroy diets by making people eat More As some research suggests and it May even Hel women lose weight according to a study released tues Day. The research found that women seemed to be Able to stick to Low calorie diets better when they satisfied their cravings for Sweet with sodas and snacks con Taining Nul Rasaw the study found no evidence that men lose weigh faster when they use the sweetener. In fact they actually did worse in this Experiment. But experts cautioned that the number of male participants was Loo Small to produce statistically meaningful results. Researchers Alto cautioned that Anil locally Sweet ened snacks and drinks can help folks drop pounds Only if they eat them instead of fattening treats not . In this particular study adding an artificial Sweet ener primarily one or two diet sodas a Day and one or two snacks or desserts containing up Jiame Wai successful in producing More weight Lou and belter Quality of  said or. George Blackburn of new England deaconess Hospital who directed the study. Blackburn said his research does not substantiate suggestions that Nutrasweet known generically As is Partam undermines diets by prompting people to Patmore. In a letter last year in the British journal lancet . Blundell and colleagues at Leeds University in England said the artificial sweetener appears to stimulate people s appetites. In tests on 95 volunteers Blundell found that com pared with sugar or Ordinary water spar Fame left people with a residual hunger that leads to increase food consumption. However the group did not actually test what if any effect this bad on dieting. Blackburn s study financed by Nutrasweet was conducted on 46 overweight women and 13 men. The women were put on Low lit diets that added up to 1,000 calories a Day while the men got 1,200 cation is. The volunteers were divided into two group. One was encouraged to snack on Nutrasweet White the other was told not to. After 12 weeks the women who used Nutrasweet lost an average of 17 pounds White the others lost 13 pounds. Among the men those who ate the sweetener bet 13 pounds compared with 17 pounds among those who did not. Stateside charge d affaires named to ambassador s Post Washington up the while House, cementing a return 10 Normal in Diplo malic relations announced tuesday that presi Dent Reagan will nominate career Diplomat John Davis Obj , ambassador to Poland. Davis 60, has been the highest ranking Amer ican Diplomat in Poland since 1983, when ten Sions stemming from the december 981 i typos it Ion or martial Taw left the United state without 3 full dodged ambassador in Warsaw. The announcement of his intended Elevation from the position of charge d affaires to that of ambassador followed an announcement tast week in Poland that the two countries arc pre pared to return their ambassadors to washing ton and Warsaw. That Long expected announcement came atthe end of a visit to Poland by vice president George Bush. The last polish ambassador to the United states resigned in december 1981 to protest martial Law. Anheuser Busch of d for Tokyo Stock Exchange St. Louis up Anheuser Busch  received approval from the Japan ministry of finance to list its common shares on the Tokyo Slock Exchange. Trading of Anheuser Busch Stock in Tokyo began tuesday and marked the seventh listing on International markets. The company s Budweis or Beer has been produced and sold in Japan since 1984 by Sun tory Ltd. Under a licensing agreement Budweiser accounted or More than to percent of the foreign Beer sold in Japan in 1986, company executive said. A statement released tuesday by augus Busch i president and chief executive or the company said the listing had the potential to expand ownership of Aji Heuser Busch and could result in broader recognition for the company inthe far East business Community. Panel asks for help in finding unsafe toys Washington a the consume product safety commission called on the Public tuesday for help in malting sure children have Safe Christmas. The Federal Agency asked Consumers and con Sumer organizations to inform it of any potentially dangerous toys or other items so that appropriate action can be taken to get the items of the Market. We believe that it will serve the consumer est for us to investigate potentially hazardous products now rather than attempt to Deal wit them during the Middle of the main Holiday buy ing period said commission chairman Ter rence m. Scanlon. People who find items that May pose a Hazard can write the Agency at 5401 Wesl Bard ave., Bethesda my. 20207. Pan american applies for Seattle Tokyo route Seattle up pan american world air ways has applied for the Seattle Tokyo route Al ready sought by two rival airlines. Pan am which pioneered trans Pacific com Mercial nights but sold ill routes to United air lines two years ago said monday it wants to return with daily non Slop Boeing 747 flights from Seattle to Tokyo that also would serve Portland ore., and Osaka Japan. United has been fighting to retain the flight for Over a year with Continental airlines which Well before the Federal department of transportation to complain that pan aids sell out gave United trans Pacific routes from Seattle Sanfrancisco and los Angeles. Last month the Federal Agency announce that the procedure must Start Over because of questions of impartiality involving a department official. That development allowed pan am to re enter the bidding. United will retain the Seattle Tokyo rout until the Agency rules