European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 07, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes sunday february 7,1993 at a glance when Kenneth Santiago was struck by a car doctors told his family that Only time could Tell whether the youngster would rebound after receiving such a severe blow to his Skull. Kenneth s Story is Only one example of How the human spirit triumphs in the face of tragedy. Sec stories in sunday Magazine. Bewildering policy in a military known for its rigid Structure a new . Policy on sex Ual preference is being carried out in a nonuniform Way and is confusing some recruiters. Page 4 hoping for resignation a senior administration official said Clinton aides Hope embattled Fri director William s. Sessions will see. Reality and step Down voluntarily Page 5 strike two president Clinton having lost a second prospective attorney general Over her hiring of an illegal Immi Grant is pressing ahead in a search for a nominee without a Zoe Baird  Page 7 generally shrinking Russia has sharply Cut the number of its generals and the defense ministry could become a civilian led institution within two years a russian official said. Page 11 new Market highs the Market was on a Roll As the Dow Jones Industrial average set a record High after struggling for eight months. Page 17 Index Abby Ann Landers. 16 classifieds. 20-24 commentary. 15 faces n places. 16 Horoscope. 23 letters 14 Money matters 17 Mutual 17-19 sports 25-32 weather 13 those at top to  Clinton says the president appears to be trying to oreo Are americans for the likelihood Ofak a s its Tai me economic program will ask the most of who got the most and gave the least Dur  include higher Energy taxes to m in past dozen years those at the Linton said  live address from die class and working poor the Oval office Clinton trying to build support for the we re going to do everything we can feud get and deficit reduction plans he will to protect the people who Are suffering unveil later this month also promised to the most from declining incomes and set an example by making big cutbacks vanishing jobs the Middle class and the America s privileged few before in Likvar Yean Thos t few look my for  from the mid a no said in live address fro son so the Uva Mcc. Stepped up tax collections on foreign companies operating in the United states. He presents details of his economic stimulus plan to Congress on feb. 17.examplein his White House staff. Working poor he said. Health from Page 1 in Europe use the health insurance  Europe 4,772 army Naf employees including 257 stars and stripes Naf employees Are eligible for the Benefit. Determining just who is responsible forthe problems in insurance reimburse ment is Tough. Coldwells blamed John Hancock forthe delays and errors in insurance  ments. Officials at John Hancock insurance co. Referred questions tothe army s Naf benefits office in Virginia which Isth Headquarters for Coldwells of fice. Corning full Circle that head quarters blamed the delays on Gold Wells office. Chappell. There was problem with backlogged claims in february and March of 1991, but coldwell said that happened after the Headquarters in Virginia eliminated two positions from her office in Germany. The cuts were linked to a plan that shifted responsibility for payment of medical claims from Coldwells office to John Hancock s main office in West Chester pa., she said. The army s decision to wove claim payments to John Hancock was intended to give the claims a higher priority and to reduce processing time to one week said Charles r. Saflin the director of thenas benefits office in Virginia in a stars and stripes report on the payment change in March 1991. However a reduction in processing time has not happened Coldwells said Naf employees who sought reimbursement for medical expenses have complained that claims take from 30 Days to eight months or longer before the insurance is reimbursed. Since 1991, the processing time of insurance payments for health related claims primarily medical has increased she said. And since March 1991, her office has setback More than 200 insurance payments to John Hancock because of  to a nov. 2 log of 23 claims sent from coldwells1 office the insurance company averaged 42 Days to process claims before payments were mailed to Europe. A More realistic turnaround should be two weeks she said. In a five Page memorandum cold Wells tracked a number of customer complaints with John Hancock from oct. 1,1991, to sept. 30 that include no toll free phone lines to John Hancock and regular phone lines to the army Naf benefits office in Virginia Al ways being Busy. Delays of payments causing employees to lose Money when Exchange rate dropped during 1992. John Hancock s use of Only one free Lance translator per foreign language on claims that heed translation. No Way to make direct payments for foreign medical care. Insurance payments mailed to non Apo addresses taking four six or eight weeks to reach employees. . Military hospitals overseas no being listed in the John Hancock computer system. With 57,000 claims processed world wide there Are some problem claims that pass through John Hancock Accord ing to  statement received Jan. 19 from the army office of the Deputy chief of staff for personnel in washing ton. John Hancock s Standard processing time for both medical and dental claims is nine business Days if the claim is in English. If the claim must be translated and at least two thirds of All claims Are foreign language related according to Coldwells it May take 11 More Days the statement said. There May also be delays according to army officials for the following reasons claims that involve Medicine not Cov ered by the insurance plan or approved by the . Food and drug administration. John Hancock s improperly apply ing $500 penalties to overseas claims through a program that Only pertains to claims filed in the United states and puerto Rico. The army has cautioned John Hancock to exercise More care in future claims army officials said computer errors that often strip Naf employees from the european stars and stripes of their insurance plan eligibility. This happens army officials said because stripes uses a nonstandard  Roll  improve customer service a toll free Telephone serv ice with John Han cock is scheduled to begin feb. 27 wit Germany army officials said. John Hancock is also adding two More claims approves to bring its staff to seven medical a provers and three dental approves. A toll free phone Coldwells line also is expected in june for the army Naf benefits of fice army officials added. It is unclear How the toll free numbers will be accessed by foreign callers. These changes could be Welcome news to army Naf employees such As Mary Lennox of Stuttgart Germany who now wonders if she can depend on her medical  had an ultrasound performed in june at a Hospital in Colorado Springs Colo. The Hospital filled out the paper work and sent the Bill for direct payment to John Hancock she  Lennox is receiving notices from the Hospital to  the Bill before it dam Ages her credit she said. It s Cost me a lot of  Hospital Bill she said is $262 it s not a big amount but it can throw you of balance if it has to come out of pocket. Lennox was scheduled to have surgery recently but said she put it off because i m not sure John Hancock is going to ." Tail Hook from Page 1 Wedgeable sources. Vander Schaaf also identified a similar number of officers for discipline in less formal proceedings for lesser  investigation grew out of the 1991 convention of the Tail Hook association in Las vegas. Tail Hook is a fraternal organization of Navy and Marine aviators and it takes its name from the device on the underside of aircraft that allows it to Stop Short on a Carrier deck. The report roughly 300 pages Long an illustrated with explicit photographs taken by those attending the convention offers a much More detailed account of the lurid incidents than has emerged so far. It also indicates that punishment May extend Well beyond those who harassed or assaulted women colleagues or mis handled the subsequent investigation. The investigation which included interviews with More then 2,100 Navy and Marine corps officers found that the conduct of the aviators went beyond ear Lier reports of Drunken males groping female officers in a hotel hallway Gauntlet. The new findings include allegation that some males exposed themselves in the hotel. In another incident a male Wassail to have engaged publicly in Oral sex with women sources said. Under a Mili tary Law against sodomy Oral sex could be prosecuted As a criminal offence. There was a lot of Public sex said one source who had seen an Early draft of the report. It s a pretty tawdry  the Navy and the Clinton administration Are awaiting third report with conflict ing sentiments. Navy leaders Are girding for what several described As a final and devastating assault on their image. Some Clinton administration official said they expect that the new revelations of sexual misconduct combined with re cent reports of military troops attacks on Gays will help erode Public support for the military leaders fight to maintain a Long standing ban on  Navy and Marine corps installations with Large aviator communities the report is being awaited with fierce resent ment and grim resignation. We know what s coming said on aviator who was questioned in the Case. It in t Good and it in t fair but we understand it does t need to be fair be cause them s nothing we can do about it. This thing started in an Effort to find out who attacked it Paula Coughlin and then it turned into a fishing expedition and it seems they be hauled a Bunch of people in for poor conduct he said. There was poor conduct but people Are getting caught up in a dragnet Origi Nally we were looking for a criminal As Sault and now we re dragging people in who had prohibited  Coughlin was the first woman came Forward with allegations