European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday. December 29, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 quite a Shock Ai in store for this automobile s Driver and passengers in Sydney Australia when the car rather Short distance for a trunk Call stopped at � traffic Light. A thick Gray lube suddenly worked its Way through the Back window much to the occupants Surprise. Abu. An elephant with his trunk when the truck that belong Iii to a local circus was just has transporting him to the circus Hap saying hello in his own special nay Pend to Slop at the same intersection. 87 budget would Cut a health benefits plan would require insurers to help pay Washington not president Reagan s draft budget for fiscal 1987 would Cut spending on veterans health care Bene fits by reducing the number of people treated and. For the first time by requiring insurance companies to help pay the costs. Harry n. Walters the administrator of veterans affairs warned that cutbacks in spending and staff could ultimately result in a reduced Quality of medical care for veterans. He made the comment in a letter to the office of management and budget which wrote the proposals. The draft 1987 budget to be submitted to Congress in Early february would re quire Many veterans to show financial need to receive care. It would also provide no Money for new nursing Homes for veterans even As the number of older veterans is rising rapidly because of the Large number of men who served in world War ii. The proposal Calls for a new Long term care policy emphasising the use of Community mining Homes and state institutions rather than additional Federal facilities. The veterans administration had sought seven new nursing Homes and Walters is appealing to Reagan s budget director. James c. Miller Iii. To permit at least the two highest priority projects at Hampton. A. And Tampa a. At present the Agency which boasts the nation s largest Midi Cai care system has 116 nursing Homes with 11,072 Beds. Walters in a letter to Miller said the new policy on icing term care was not prac tical because there Are no Community or state nursing Home Beds available in the affected the budget office said the a must in crease productivity by i percent a year for the next five years and must treat fewer Low priority it did not define such Etc rank confidential budget documents show that the office of management and budget seeks to reduce the number of patients admitted to veterans hospitals by 62.000, to 1.2 million in 1987. It would reduce the number of visits to outpatient clinics by 1. J million to 16.5 million in 1987. And by another 1.9 million to 14.6 million visit by 1989. These cutbacks would be accompanied by a shrinking of a Hospital staffs and other health care resources for veterans. The number of a employees working on medical care programs would decline. Japanese population slows Tokyo up Japan s population grew at the slowest rate in 40 years and stood at 121,047,196 last oct. I the government reported. It said the preliminary report based on a census taken on oct. 1 showed the nation s population increased .3,986,000 or 3.4 percent Over the previous census in 1980. Under tic president budget proposal from i9j, i in fiscal i9k6, which began oct i to ik5.0j9 in 1987 and 171.674 in i"9i,the documents show in the Teller to Miller wallers he was fully supportive of the need to exercise budget constr its so Long As they did not harm the Una to of care. The proposals for veterans programs in Reagan s 1987 budget arc part of a larger while House package of non military Bud get cuts designed to reduce the Federal Defi Cit to Levels specified by a new Law. The Law seeks to balance the budget by 1991. It appears Likely that Congress will a Thorie the government to collect reimbursement from private insurance companies and will establish some income based eligibility test for veterans although perhaps not the one being proposed b Rea pan. Both houses of Congress endorsed such changes earlier this month bul they adjourned last week i Ghoul giving final approval to the legislation which was included in a Bill designed to save 574 billion Over three years. I under the Bill the government could col Lect from private insurers the reasonable Cost of care provided by the a to Veter ans with disabilities unrelated to their Mili tary service. The insurers would be legally obliged to pay for such care to the same extent As if the patient had been treated in a private Hospital. Many insurance contracts new preclude payment fur care Given b Federal hospitals. The Bill would in effect such language in any contracts written after Lite proposal became Law. The income eligibility test envisioned by is More stringent than the one endorsed by key members of the Senate and House committees on veterans affairs. Under current Law. At the age of 65 a Veter an is automatically eligible for medical care on request without regard to financial need if space is available in a a facility. Under the congressional proposal the a would have to provide Hospital care 10 veterans with disabilities unrelated to Mili tary service if they had income less than specified amounts 515,000 a year for a sin Gle Veteran. for a Veteran with one dependent plus si.000 for each additional dependent. The government could decide based on available resources whether to care for peo ple with higher incomes. Veterans without service connected disabilities would have to contribute to the Cost of their care 5492 for the first 90 Days if they had income exceeding 520,000 a year for a single per son or $25,000 for a married couple. Under the Reagan administration s proposal veterans with family incomes of More than $15.000 a year would have to pay substantially More before thy could qualify for a health care
