European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 08, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Poge 12 the stars and stripes tuesday August 8, 1978 James j. Kilpatrick Carter shuns the Crux on health insurance or Carter begs the question in putting Forth his Pussy footed program of 10 principles for National health insurance the president would have us consider Only the details of coverage Cost and administration. He skips nimbly Over the threshold question should we have National health insurance at All until a convincing Case can be made i support of National health insurance in America the details Are irrelevant. No such Rase has been made. On the contrary the arguments against National health insurance get More persuasive All the time. To justify so Radical a departure fro traditional forms of health care proponents might reasonably begin by arguing that health services in America arc so poo that greater governmental intrusion is imperative. The proposition won t Wash. Since 1970. Infant mortality has dropped 25 percent life expectancy has risen by year and a half and nine of the Lead causes of death have declined. As or. Richard e. Palmer observes those Are hardly the elements of  speaking for the american medical association or. Palmer makes some other Points. While the distribution of doctors is uneven and in a free country it could note otherwise the United states has More doctors per capita than almost any other nation in the Western world. The govern ment s own studies find that typically a family is no More than 17 minutes away from a doctor a clinic or a Hospital. Public opinion polls indicate that americans overwhelmingly Are satisfied with the care they receive. Nevertheless do the people want a pro Gram of National health insurance it de pends upon How the question is put. Phrased in terms of free medical care the question understandably draws an affirmative response. But when an Abc sur vey asked about a program paid for through increased taxation it was a Dif Ferent matter altogether. There simply is no convincing evidence of Public demand for the kind of program that or. Carter would impose on the country. One reason for Public opposition can be found in present High Levels of health insurance. Roughly 92 percent of our people Al ready Are covered by some form of medi Cal insurance. More than half of our people Nave major medical or "catastrophic."coverage. The terms of coverage vary widely and in a free country this is a Good and healthy situation. Those who want first Dollar coverage can get ii those who want so or Sloo deductible have that Freedom of Choice also. A second reason May lie in Public hostility to government programs generally. The administration of a plan of National health insurance would wind up in the same superbly efficient hands that managed last year to lose or mistakenly to spend a Mere s billion. The people Are fully aware of the Slipshod cumbersome grossly inept administration of medicare and  of the same who wants it the Best that can be said of or. Carter s10 principles is that if any program at All is to be adopted his gradual approach makes More sense than sen. Edward Ken Nedy s grandiose production. The presi Dent would Start Small he would give some account to economic and administrative factors and be would Accord the Pri vate insurance companies a significant role in the whole scheme. But the principles Are so vaguely stated that it is impossible to know what the pres ident truly has in mind. We Are Given no estimates of Cost. Nothing is said of the tax to. In Uzoni i Prim in in cell Mot i my be rant am m in. Maxi m