NEW STATE INSURANCE LAW PROVIDES BASICS FOR DIABETICS.

Byline: Staff and wire services

A new state law requires health insurance companies to pay for medical supplies, medicine and education for California's 2 million diabetics.

The law, which went into effect Jan. 1, also allows people to sue their health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and requires insurers to provide a second opinion when a patient requests it. The lawsuit aspect of the legislation has been getting all the headlines, but it also extends important benefits to diabetics, said Ann L. Albright, president of the western region of the American Diabetic Association.

In the past, some aspects of diabetes care were covered but others weren't. <

``You had somebody who could get insulin but couldn't get syringes,'' Albright said. ``They might be able to get a blood glucose monitor, but they couldn't get the test strips (which are needed to make the machine work). Some people weren't getting anything. This levels the field so that people are able to get the basic tools to manage their diabetes.''

Some examples of what is covered: Blood monitors, blood test strips, syringes, insulin (oral and injectable), insulin pumps and even nutritionists to help manage diet - a crucial aspect of maintaining tight blood sugar control. Consult your physician to get prescriptions.

--THE EVER-VERSATILE VITAMIN C: A daily supplement of the vitamin may help people who suffer moderately high blood pressure, scientists from Boston University and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University reported recently in the Lancet, a medical journal.

Pauling, the chemist twice honored with a Nobel Prize (Peace and Chemistry), became a passionate proponent of vitamin C, an anti-oxidant, in the 1970s, suggesting that large doses of it could ward off diseases like cancer. Many other scientists remain skeptical.

The report said that when high blood-pressure patients - 45 people whose pressure was more than 140 over 90 - were given 500 milligrams a day of vitamin C, mean pressures were reduced an average of 9 percent. The benefits began about a month after the vitamin was added to their diets. The researchers said they were not sure how the process worked, and added that more research needed to be conducted.

``We believe this is a significant finding that may be of considerable value to patients who have moderately elevated blood pressure,'' said Dr. Balz Frei, the director of the Pauling center.

In previous studies, Frei and other scientists found that taking vitamin C seemed to help the body's blood vessels remain relaxed, reducing pain in angina pectoris patients and lowering the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The institute has called on the government to double the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C to 120 milligrams a day.

- Staff and wire services