European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday december 17, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13george f. Will commentary britons understandably leery of maastricht in the Netherlands where architects of a the new Europe Quot recently met is just 850 Miles the distance Pittsburgh is from Topeka from Dubrovnik Yugoslavia. There some europeans who Haven to heard that a new age has dawned who Are continuing Europe a oldest tradition ruining their picturesque ruins and making new ones. To appreciate British reluctance to join the Rush to a Federal Europe begin by noting How depressing familiar Are Many of Europe a current fevers rivalries and ideas. The War in what never should have been Yugoslavia has the ferocity of fratricide among people who their real nationalities having been disregarded were forced into a bogus brotherhood. And Eastern Europe which extends to the urals May have much More violence As Winter compounds the suffering attendant upon the implosion of soviet socialism. Furthermore All across the continent hostility toward immigrants is fueling racist politics of an explicit virulence that makes David hikes seem subliminal. But perhaps the most dismaying a because the most irreversible a facet of the emerging Europe is As Bland As bureaucracy. It is bureaucracy and the soft statism it serves. What is already far advanced is nothing less than a Retreat from the values and institutions of government by consent through representative institutions. Fanatics for european federalism Are As a progressives Quot often Are prone to making metaphors serve As arguments. There is a steady drizzle of Muzzy thoughts about Britain missing the boat. But is movement from popular sovereignty to Rule by unelected mandarins a Progress Quot the european Community a manic regulators Are meticulously a harmonizing Quot the minutiae of life in the 12 member nations. The dec issues decrees concerning everything from the dimensions of condoms and the making of Camembert cheese to the standards for toilet paper holders. The maddening multiplication of Petty edicts would be funny were it not part of the derogation of British parliamentary sovereignty one of the fountains from which american Liberty flowed. There Are Continental words for what is being put in place. Germans Call it or did before Hitler gave the word a bad odor Gleich Schartung meaning bringing everything and everybody into Harmony. The French tradition of Dirig isme dates from the 17th Century the French were Early practitioners of the Folly of detailed state intervention in economic affairs. As National sovereignty is leached away by the International Nomen Latura in Brussels partisans of this process argue for it with the zealots indifference to logic. They say that the concept of sovereignty is now anachronistic and that sovereignty is actually strengthened by a a pooling it. They define sovereignty tendentious by As a nations ability to a do anything it  no nation now new Europe has or Ever has had that ability Ergo no nation is or Ever has been a really Quot Sovereign. Next by semantic sleight of hand proponents say sovereignty is a really Quot a synonym for a influence on events a so Britain by submerging itself in the european Community is actually a deepening Quot its Sovereign this argument fails because sovereignty Means not being subject to the authority of another political entity but say euro enthusiasts the european Assembly at Strasbourg will be steadily transformed from an advisory and monitoring body into a full blown legislature. So popular sovereignty will still exist but in a larger political Community. Americans anxious about Competition from a Europe made into an economic colossus can perhaps take Comfort from the probability that the Bland Leviathan now swelling in Brussels with its atavistic urge to Tell people How to live will suffocate Europe a vitality. Furthermore regulation will be internecine War carried on by other Means. Some members of the dec will impose competitive disadvantages on other members a As when Rich countries impose costly labor and environmental standards on poorer competitors. Imagine How All this disparagement of sovereignty and Celebration of statism seems to those watching in such non dec european capitals As Warsaw Budapest Prague and Kiev. C was Kington Post writers group Larry Lipman broken health care system begs for fixing �r6tuy? its been w poor w when i hear the twelve Days of Christmas i think of Conni Wells of Wauchula Fla. Instead of maids a milking and lords a leaping she has another Litany. It goes like this by the time her daughter Janell was 2, she was being cared for by 14 doctors eight nurses six educational personnel four hospitals four state agencies four Case managers three Home health agencies two insurance companies two durable medical equipment companies and two pharmacies. Then her husband lost his Job a and his health insurance. The Wells family have four children. Three suffer chronic medical problems although Janelle so their third child a Are the most severe. Now 10, she suffers from a Host of ailments whose medical names end in a via Quot but which mean she stops breathing has a Low heart rate Low body temperature suffers seizures and has learning disabilities. During the night she might Stop breathing 50 to 60 times. Her heart rate can soar to 360 beats a minute and drop suddenly to 34 beats a minute. With medical Bills running nearly a Quarter of a million dollars a year the Wells family purchased private health insurance. The premiums doubled in six months and did no to cover Many of Janelle a needs. Finally they were forced to drop it. They then had to pay their Bills out of current income. A each time we had a doctors appointment or test we would go into the held and pull out a hog or two to pay the  when they ran out of hogs medicaid a the Federal state health program for the poor a began to pay the Bills. It meant the family was destitute. On june 10, 1988, Conni and Bob Wells sold their farm. Conni remembers bobs hands were shaking. She watched her father weep openly As the family tractor a which he bad used since before she was born a was auctioned off. A what happened to us can happen to you tomorrow a she said. A it can wipe a family out and you done to know who it will hit  Call Conni Wells the personification of health problem no. 1 a catastrophic medical condition a whether from birth Accident or advanced age a can financially ruin a family. Call Cindy Nagel the personification of health problem no. 2 the High Cost and inaccessibility of health insurance for workers in Small businesses. Nagel and her husband own three hair styling salons in the Tampa area. Because of a medical condition insurance companies refuse to cover her. She has Haa to turn to a state program offering High Cost coverage then work at a second Job to pay for it. Meanwhile skyrocketing insurance costs a an 80 percent jump in one year a forced the Nagels to cancel coverage for their 40 employees. The Nagels Are Small business people who want to protect their workers. They understand that a worker who a because of a Lack of insurance a puts off visiting a doctor for a minor ailment can ultimately Cost More in lost time when that minor ailment becomes a major problem. Then there is Raymond Ross of Tampa. Call him the personification of health problem no. 3 the High Cost of medical care is being shifted to those with insurance and Many and that the costs Are coming out of their own pockets. Until recently Ross did no to give health it a Quot when he broke his thumb playing basketball and was told he would need surgery he Wasny to too concerned. The Bill came to a whopping $9,776.20. His insurance carried a $200 deductible and a $1,000 maximum on out of pocket payments. But the company said it  pay that much for a broken thumb. So after paying $1,200, he was stuck for another $3,128. The Hospital acknowledged that his Bill was higher than the True Cost because Quot some people can to pay sol they have to shift the Burden to the people that do a he said. I used to think that health Reform was an Issue of importance Only to the elderly. Its not. It affects every Parent every worker every business. Conni Wells Cindy Nagel and Raymond Ross could be you tomorrow. C Cox news service care costs much thought. He was Young healthy and covered by insurance. So my Plavi 0/991