European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes saturday. August 15,19fl7 James k1lpatrick Federal outlays for health won t cure problem in grapple my with the problem of catastrophic illness the House of representatives has come up with a cure thai May be worse than the disease. The plan approved on july 22 by a vote of 30m27 would Lake us a giant step toward National health insurance in inc British fashion. This fatal journey Oug no be resisted. Beyond dispute the problem of catastrophic illness is indeed a problem and a devastating head wrench ing problem at dial. Any family that has experienced a prolonged Hostila Bizalion. With accompanying expenses for nursing care and drugs knows he meaning of illnesses can wipe out savings destroy family relationships and reduce the most Pru Dent families 10 penury. President Reagan acknowledged this last year when he asked his Secretary of health and human services 10 make recommendations. One rouble with the House Bill is that it goes Miles a Vond what Secretary Olis r. Bowen proposed last no vember the Secretary s plan contained some of the same drawbacks of the House plan but it was relatively moderate in both its benefits and its Cost. The House Bill would hit the elderly with mandatory fees that could prove a real hard ship for Many people now on medicare. Under the House plan medicare patients would be entitled to unlimited free Hospital care after an initial annual deductible of $580 in 1988. The Bill guarantees thai no medicare patient would pay More than j1,043 out of pocket for covered doctor and out patient Bills. The plan would pay 80 percent of a patient s prescription drug costs above $500 a year. It would cover Iso Days in a skilled nursing Home alter an initial charge of ji6b. For a patient with High drug costs he total out of pocket Cost to a beneficiary would be capped at about j2 300 annually plus 20 percent of drag costs exceeding s500. At present there i no limit on out of pocket pay ments and Hospital slays Are covered after a deductible for Only 60 jays. The Bill justifies rep. Pan Rosl Cyskowski s description. The Illinois Democrat termed it the most significant and far reaching expansion of medicare since the program was created 22 years ago. The estimated Cost of All this is j34 billion Over the next five years almost double the Sis billion Price tag on a More restrained Republican proposal. The House plan would be financed by increases in the monthly Premium for medicare. That Premium now amounts to j2li a year to would go to $378 a year in 1992, two Basic objections May be raised to this legislation. It invites political sweeteners m years to come and it would just about destroy any incentive for the a vase insurance David Broder carriers to offer coverage to the elderly. 1 f the House Bill becomes Law in would be Only a matter of time and not a very Long time before political considerations would Lead to beefing up the benefits. It would be marvellously easy and Marc loudly appealing to reduce the $580 deductible to $400, or $200. Or to nothing at All. Instead of paying to percent of drug costs above $500 a year Why not woo the voters by covering 100 percent of drug costs above si00 a year or. Speaker can t we do More for theold folks this Way lies National health insurance with its monstrous costs and its terrible damage to the whole system of private health care and private health insurance. A greater Blunder in Public policy scarcely could be imagined. There Are alternatives to going the government route. The House plan is inflexible specific benefits iilnes5 specific costs. By contrast private insurance carriers competing for the elderly Market Are in a position to offer flexible plans tailored to individual purses. Vouchers could be provided through medicare by which retirees could Purchase policies. Congress could require employers providing tax deductible health plans to provide catastrophic Protection the states ought to be encouraged to Experiment with risk pools to protect uninsured families. My thought is that not enough creative thought has yet been applied to tackling the problem. Such Liberal democrats As Pete Stark of California principal Spon Sor of the Bill tend to think first of solution by govern ment tax and lax. Spend and spend and leave it to Uncle Sam i m not suggesting there is no role at All for medicare. Probably there is. But recourse to the Feder Al Monolith should be the last resort and not the first. 1c us Arul or i syndic governors taking a stand to improve education to. j,.an, no nah air a . was Early on sunday morning in traverse City Mich after a Long banquet and fireworks display had Kepi them up All night. But Here they were around the table waiting to recite. This was show and Tell time not for schoolboys but governors talking about their efforts at education Reform. A year ago when they held their annual meeting at Hilton head s.c., the governors adopted a report on schools called a time for they committed then to evaluate their Progress every year for the a Cal five years. This was the first report. One governor from an economically depressed state told How he worked with the teachers Union superintendents and school boards to persuade the state legislature to add $92 million to the education budget boosting starting salaries 24 percent and allow ing performance based pay incentives. The next a lame Duck caring the end of his second term in a conservative stale recounted How he Pul Alt my political capital into a legislative fight that extended into a special session for higher taxes to finance school improvements. The third told How he called in the presidents of All the slate supported colleges and universities and challenged them to define their educational goals and then find ways to evaluate How Well students were meeting them not with a single oversimplified measure but with techniques that take account of the lifetime Chal Lenge facing those students. And the fourth the governor of a Low wage Industrial state with a High dropout rate summarised the excellence in education program on which he focused Hli 1987 legislative package. This included a dropout prevention pro Gram with monitoring and special services for vulnerable students from kindergarten level Onward. The stories were interesting. But what made them strik ing was that All four of these governors were republicans Terry e Branstad of Iowa Robert d. Orr of Indiana John Ashcroft of m Missouri and Edward i Prole of Rhode Island. Education has rarely been a partisan Issue in american politics but with the passage of major Federal Aid to education Bills in Lyndon Johnsons years and Ronald Reagan s recurrent efforts to slash Federal Aid to schools and students democrats have come to think of it As their franchise. The fact that leading teachers organizations the National education Assn. And the american federation of teachers regularly endorse democratic candidates and a High percentage of the academics vote democratic has deepened that impression. To be sure democratic governors have placed a leading role in the recent wave of education reforms particularly in the Southern Stales with men As Jim Hunt of North Carolina William Winter of Mississippi Mark while of Texas Bill Clinton of Arkan Sas Dick Riley of South Carolina and Bob Graham of Florida. But at the Isaic level. Republicans have matched them step for step. The prime mover in the time for results project was former gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee who As chairman of the National governors association made the crucial decision to devote All of last year s meeting to education Reform. That was also Alexander s final year As governor but he turned Over the follow up responsibility to a Man equally dedicated to belter schools fellow re publican gov. Thomas h can of new Jersey. Kean is a results oriented executive who has built an enviable record and diverse constituency support in six years As governor. He thinks the slates need to continue heir healthy Competition in improving schools but thai the governors also Musl help renew n historic partnership Wilh the Federal government to bolster Quality and availability of education. The Federal government has to gel Back into Educa Kean says. The states arc taking All the Initia Tive and responsibility now and the Federal Gove Mcnol in l even filling in the gaps. It in l even doing the education planning for the Kean urged his fellow governors to make education an Issue for the 1988 presidential Candida los and not to be satisfied Wilh cliches. Governors should ask candidates to express the National education Agenda in Plain terms he would they do about the education of Urban Anil Rural poor in this Nalion what would they do at the Federal level to link education Aid to performance what would they do to connect education to welfare Reform and employment policy to renew the skills of our work Force to encourage americans to invest in their own higher education what would these Candi dates do to strengthen the research Enterprise Good questions put in a Man who with his col leagues has earned the right to ask them. Wilh republicans joining democrats in state after slate and put Tine pressure on i hair National Candida los to commit to the Effort the Battle for education inc True struggle for America s future looks More hopeful than Ever c Washington foil a id s Cav a
