European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Employees an illness away from financial disaster by Hal Straus and Mike King of news service Everett and Alpha Patton were looking Forward to a comfortable retirement when their health insurance Carrier abruptly cancelled All of its policies in Georgia. Today the patrons owe More than &100,000 in Hospital Bills a and Arentt planning to retire any time soon. Scott and Beth Harper were starting to enjoy their Newborn son Christopher when Harper s employer decided the company Oulen t afford to offer health benefits to its workers. Today the Roswell ga., couple owes about $20,000 in medical Bills despite Laving declared bankruptcy last year. When their son needs treatment for the infections that have plagued his Young life be harpers sometimes go to the. Emergency room late at night a because hey know that in the daytime they would be turned away. And Robert Huff was making a decent iving As a House Painter when he started to cough a few Summers Back. Since he did t have health insurance he figured a visit to the doctor could wait. Thirteen months later when Huff s family insisted he find out what was causing his cough a rays revealed a tumor in his lung the size of a fist. He was buried last january. Health insurance once As automatic As a paycheck for the nations Middle class has become an increasingly scarce often fleeting commodity a leaving millions of working americans Only an illness away from a disaster. Insurance carriers Are barring whole industries from coverage turning Down applicants who can t pass a growing Battery of tests and imposing yearly Price hikes that can top 800 percent in a frantic bid to Weed out Quot bad  Many carriers have gotten out of the business entirely Over the past two years. Employers Are slashing benefits raising deductibles or simply eliminating their health plans in an attempt to control skyrocketing costs. And even those Lucky enough to still have Good affordable coverage Are feeling the effects of the health insurance crisis in the form of higher taxes. Georgia taxpayers paid $100 million More this year than last to provide insurance to state employees and teachers a an amount almost exactly equal to what the state general Assembly Cut from the governor s Quality Basic education program because of a budget crunch. Quot it used to be a matter of Rich is. Poor As far As insurance was concerned. Now its the average american who a being Hurt and the average americans neighbor Quot says Jeffrey Merrill vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson foundation a $2.8 billion philanthropic Trust concerned exclusively with health care issues. Quot people Aren t getting the health care they need because they Don t have insurance Quot says John St. Clair a certified health underwriter with the Atlanta firm of Manry amp Heston. Quot and instead of doing something about the problem the legislature and the Congress Are just burying their Heads in the  even a decade ago in the heyday of private insurance More than 22 million americans weren to covered. But today a thanks to rising health care costs the to How much time have t it the fee Kab lock problem is far worse according to Merrill and others. Thirty seven million americans More than 40 percent of them in the South done to have insurance according to the National Center for health statistics. Another 40 million Are under insured with policies that would t pay for the Cost of a major illness. Part of the reason is that More and More americans Are finding jobs in the service and financial sectors where employers Are Only two thirds As Likely to offer health insurance As manufacturers. That Means that even workers with relatively Well paying jobs May not have insurance for their families. A growing number of individuals and Small businesses Are finding that they can t get or keep insurance As carriers employ stricter and stricter underwriting a or risk assessment a strategies before issuing or renewing policies. Quot right now the insurance Carrier who does the most with underwriting makes the most Money by cutting his risks Quot says Thomas Kinser president of Blue Cross and Blue shield of Georgia. Quot we re All being forced to do some things wed rather not have  Blue Cross which lost a total of $76 million in Georgia in 1987 and 1988 before breaking even last year actually has some of the loosest underwriting standards in Georgia. Other firms have Quot redlined Quot dozens of industries refusing to insure applicants no matter How healthy a Given company a workers May be. Virtually no firm will insure businesses with fewer than 25 employees who have even a single worker suffering from a major medical problem such As cancer aids or advanced heart disease. And carriers Are increasingly requiring applicants to prove they Are healthy by taking a variety of blood and urine tests. A rarity two years ago such testing was begun in an Effort to Weed out carriers of the aids virus but is now serving to cull other bad risks according to Dwight l. Johnson general agent in Atlanta for the american United life insurance co. The company rejects roughly 10 percent of its Georgia applicants on the basis of blood and urine tests most because of medical problems other than aids he said. Quot they re often perfectly Fine people upstanding and they think they re perfectly healthy Quot said Johnson. Quot but the tests show their cholesterol is High or their liver function is  <0 Luck e 0 o o 00 0 111 q. E h co o z it o cd s co stars and stripes bookstores stars and stripes bookstores in Ksn a do Mumm a mrw it Crofean business studying the bears on the user s new commodities Exchange Oil crisis May uni Iyih air Faros Honecker is defiant in a not guilty exclusive v a Ltd 5 protesters to defy red tanks the european that Speaks your language the european is the Only English language newspaper devoted entirely to Europe from insights into business opportunities and jobs to investments holidays fashion sports and More. The european also brings you essential information on the environment health lifestyles and education. In Short its a weekly look at the news and events that concern All of us in Europe. Cut h it 2j Cut it z 0 Cut h 21 u m Cut 01 o o the european is now available for $1.25 at most stars and stripes bookstores. 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