European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 5, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday March 5, 1990 the stars and stripes a a Page 7bill would restore some medicare benefits from wire reports Washington a a bipartisan group of four House leaders has moved to restore several health benefits for older americans that were included in the medicare catastrophic coverage act that Congress repealed last year. The benefits which had been sought by health groups and the elderly include breast cancer screening respite care for those staying with the elderly and expanded hospice and Home health care. They would be financed by an 80-cent increase in monthly medicare premiums. A while we Are All aware of the controversy that led to the demise of the medicare catastrophic coverage program there was Little controversy Over the four benefits included in the proposed Bill a said rep. Pete Stark d-calif., chairman of the ways and Means subcommittee on health. The original legislation intended to protect older americans against the High Cost of major illness was repealed in response to the protests of thousands of better off older americans Over a surtax required to help finance that care. The american association of retired persons said it viewed the proposed increased Premium in the new proposal As a an extraordinary step that is acceptable Only because the Premium increase in this Case is so  Lovola Burgess vice president of the Harp applauded the proposal. Stark was joined in sponsoring the measure by rep. Bill Gradison of Ohio the ranking Republican on the subcommittee rep. Henry a. Waxman d-calif., the chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health and Edward Madigan a ill. The Bill has 99 co sponsors. The proposed measure the medicare Benefit improvements act would raise the part b medicare monthly Premium to $29.40 from $28.60. Although the Bill has the Broad support of health groups and groups representing the elderly some members of Congress say they oppose a piecemeal restoration of the defunct major care Bill. They say they favor a More deliberative examination of the problems of health care for the elderly. Rep. Brian j. Donnelly d-mass., who led the Effort to repeal the coverage for major illness objected to the mandatory increase in the part b Premium for fear it would touch off protests. A breast cancer screening is not currently provided under medicare which already benefits some disabled younger people. The proposed Bill would cover a first screening for women 35 to 39 years old and screenings every two years for those 40 to 49, except for women determined to be at High risk who would receive annual screenings. Annual screenings would also be covered for women 50 to 64. Although the incidence of breast cancer increases with a women Sage. The Bill would provide screenings Only every two years for women 65 and older. An aide to Stark said the decision was based on Cost. The proposed Law would remove the ceiling on hospice care for the terminally ill. Permitting such care beyond the current limit of 210 Days. It would also cover Home health care seven Days a week for up to 38 Days As against the current maximum of five Days a week for up to three consecutive weeks. The medicare program docs not currently provide coverage for respite care in which homemakers Home health aides or others relieve those who care for sick patients in their own Homes. The proposed measure would provide up to 80 hours of respite care a year to those dependent on a voluntary caregiver and who had annual out of pocket expenses exceeding $1,780. Or. Gerald d. Dodd president elect of the american cancer society told a subcommittee hearing that while incidence rates of breast cancer Are increasing Early detection and improved treatment had kept mortality rates for the disease fairly stable Over the past 50 years. Coors brewing launches $40 million Campaign to Advance . Literacy new York apr Smokey Robinson and Sheena Easton told tales of their own disadvantaged backgrounds saturday As the two pop stars helped launch a five year $40 million literacy Campaign sponsored by Coors brewing. A key feature of the Campaign also sponsored by Mca music entertainment group and several literacy organizations will be a Spring concert tour called a pass it on that will use music to promote the cause of literacy. Robinson and Easton will be among the artists taking part in the tour. Cities and dates will be announced later. Peter Coors president of the Golden  brewery told a news conference that Coors like other companies had come to realize that it was in its own interest to promote literacy because a if trends continue in the year 2000 wed be hard pressed to find qualified Job  the $40 million Effort is among the largest corporate commitments Ever in the literacy Field. It will include $250,000 awards in 1990 to three literacy groups named As co sponsors of the a pass it on Campaign ser jobs for Progress a Dallas based organization aimed at the hispanic Community the Philadelphia based opportunities industrialization centers of America and the National Volunteer literacy Campaign. Those groups will work together As the a Coors literacy corps a committed to training 30,000 adults to read in 1990. Much of the rest of the Money will be spent on promoting the concert tour and on a Campaign to increase awareness of illiteracy Coors said. The Campaign will urge non readers to seek help and will have a toll free literacy referral and information Telephone line. Easton recalled her childhood in a Blue Collar foundry town in Scotland and How her Mother instilled in her a love of Reading at an Early age a when things would get really crazy in the House my Mother would always pick up a Magazine or a Book and say a just give me 10  i Learned from my Mother that books hold a magic a Way to escape. Ill always thank her. I did no to want to leave school and work in a factory. My Mother gave me the window to the world  with her mothers encouragement she went on to College and was preparing for teaching a until her career took a decidedly different turn. Robinson who grew up in a family of 10 in a Detroit housing project credited his father a self taught Reader with Only a fourth Grade education with instilling in him a love of learning and an ambition for better  Stamps a the postal service will Issue four commemorative Stamps honouring classic films from Hollywood a Golden Era on March 23 As a prelude to the 62nd annual Academy awards ceremony on March 26. The Block of 25-cent Stamps features clockwise from upper left Judy Garland Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh John Wayne and Gary Cooper. Girls beating boys in new York scholarship Chase Albany . Not a female High school students in new York state who receive better grades than boys Are winning a larger snare of the regents College scholarship awards. State education officials in announcing the 25,000 winners Here said that for apparently the first time in the programs 77 years girls will receive a majority of the awards a 51.3 percent for next school year. The $250 awards Are Given to High school seniors for up to five years. While applauding the girls increased share some consumer groups said the program still discriminated against females and certain minority groups because it relied in part on results of standardized tests that the groups contend Are biased. Girls had received close to half the scholarships since the state changed the formula for determining the awards three years ago. The change takes account of High school grades plus Scholastic aptitude test scores. Last year girls won 49 percent. Before the change girls had won 43 percent of the awards reflecting a tendency to score lower than boys on the sat. A spokeswoman for the education department Linda r. Fisher said the girls majority actually represented just a Small statistical variation from last year. She said there was no Way to project whether there was a trend that would continue. Boys continue to dominate the 1,000 Empire state scholarships taking 61.5 percent of the awards which run up to $2,000 a year for five years. The winners of those awards need higher grades and sat scores than regents winners. The sex disparities have Long rankled Many educators. They question Why girls who tend to account for 52 to 53 percent of All applicants do not win an equivalent percentage of the awards especially because their school grades on average arc two to three Points higher than those of boys on a 100-Point scale. The boys win More awards because they score higher on the sat for reasons that Are also a subject of dispute among educators and testing companies. Among All High school seniors nationally who took an sat last fall boys averaged 934 out of a possible 1,600 Points and girls averaged 875. Said Ray Nicosia a spokesman for the educational testing service which runs the examinations. Many educators say the sat is biased against women. Officials who create the tests deny that and cite other factors for the differences including boys tendencies to enrol in More mathematics and science classes than girls. Nicosia said boys were also More Likely to guess at answers to difficult questions rather than leaving them Blank a phenomenon that generally works to a students advantage