European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 09, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday february 9, 1993 . The stars and stripes a Page 7 Brown seeks Reform in veterans care Secretary wants broader health benefits by the los Angeles times Washington in an Effort to repair a health care system on the verge of collapse Secretary of veterans affairs Jesse Brown wants to enable Wie Agency to raise Money improve its medical facilities and extend treat ment to millions of vets who now Are shut out. The nationwide network of 680 veterans hospitals Community clinics and other health facilities has suffered from decades of meager financing inadequate staffing lax management and political neglect. Barely Able to address the needs of a relatively Small Cor group of poor and disabled vets the system is generally shunned by other veterans who have the ability to obtain care elsewhere. Now As the Clinton administration begins work on a comprehensive National health care Reform Agenda Brown said he sees an Opportunity to revitalize the sys tem by allowing it to compete on More equal footing with other medical providers. It s my goal to pet veterans health care Reform done in a year and it s my vision that we want to pro vide Access to All veterans who want it said Brown who headed the 1.4 million member disabled Ameri can veterans organization before joining the Cabinet. Brown said he wants legislative authority to obtain reimbursements from medicare medicaid and other third party payers for patients treated in veterans facilities. He also wants to begin Selling health policies to veterans who Are not covered by other insurers an who do not qualify for mandated free care. The obstacles mostly financial. Are s proposals will have to be balanced against competing pressures to develop a plan consistent wit the administration s goal of reducing the Federal Bud get deficit. Still Brown said a window of Opportunity has been created by the election of president Clinton who made health care Reform one of his principal Campaign issues. And As a member of the health care task Force headed by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to " i he resources have been squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and the a cannot take care of the system they Are supposed to be taking car of now Rick Hellman legislative director for the disabled american veterans Brown will be Able to advocate veterans interests Ashe administration crafts its Reform Agenda. If enacted Brown s proposals could bring about Radical transformation of a self contained health care system that dates from before the civil War. Originally designed to care for wounded soldiers the system gradually was expanded to accommodate veterans with ill Nesses and injuries unrelated to their service. But in recent years As the Federal deficit has grown and funding has become More limited the department of veterans affairs has been forced to Cut service significantly by tightening eligibility rules and in some cases turning people away. Quality care has been going Down bed Levels have pen going Down staffing has been going Down. People in the priority group cannot get into the system they. Are on waiting lists there s no follow up care said Rick Heilman legislative director for the disable american veterans. The resources have been squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and the a cannot take care of the system they arc supposed to be taking care of now under the Law the department is required to provide Hospital care to a Core group of about 3 million vets who suffered service related disabilities who have other disabilities and fall below specified income Levels or who were prisoners of War. Even members of this Ore group sometimes cannot obtain outpatient or nursing Home the remaining 24 million vets who do not meet the Core group s stringent income and disability Crite Ria the department is authorized to provide care at it discretion to those who agree to pay a portion of the Cost. But the network is so overtaxed that few discretionary patients Ever enter the system. The department that Brown Heads depends almost entirely on congressional appropriations for its operating revenues. Its current medical care budget of $14.6 million has no grown sufficiently to keep Pace with rising medical costs. Lacking sufficient resources More and More of America s veterans have been turned away from. Facilities or have chosen not to seek care from the department of veterans affairs because of reports of the erosion of the Quality of available care Brown said in written testimony to Congress. The changes advocated by Brown arc designed to provide the Money needed to improve the care at Veter ans facilities by giving the department the ability to tap new sources of Revenue. Two key sources arc medicare the Federal govern ment s health insurance program for the elderly and medicaid the Federal state program that provides car for the poor including older americans who need nursing Home care. Under current practices medicare and medicaid patients have few incentives to use Veter ans health facilities and any reimbursements flow into the . Treasury instead of the department s coffers. Brown Hopes to convince medicare and medicaid officials that his system could treat veterans and their families at lower Cost than other health care facilities and to obtain legislative approval for direct reimburse ments from both networks. R o unde an rim by Hospital car mint fro Dahmer says he still has urges that led to killings new York a Jeffrey Dahmer Dahmer who appeared Calm Lucid ill Chi i he alone was to blame for the Dis and articulate said his acts resulted from a ship i has he a Mem Berment killings for which he s serv a compulsion in which sexual fantasies of a Jeffrey or me Berment killing going life in prison and said he still feels those old compulsions that led him to commit those crimes. The Only person to blame is the per son sitting right across from you danger said in his first interview since he was convicted in february 1992. That s the Only person not parents not society not july 22, 1991, police discovered severed Heads refrigerated skulls an preserved genitalia in Dahmer s Milwaukee apartment. He confessed the next Day to killing and dismembering 17 Young men and 32-year-old Dahmer was inter viewed Jan. 12 at Columbia correctional facility in Portage wis., where he s serv ing 15 consecutive life of the interview scheduled to air this week on the syndicated television show inside edition were released to re. Porters a Green prison uniform Dahmer said he killed and ate parts of his victims bodies not because i hated them but because i wanted to keep them with Dahmer i act results a compulsion control and dominance mixed with excitement fear and pleaded guilty but insane at his trial. A Milwaukee jury found him sane feb. 15. He was also sentenced to life for killing a Hitchhiker in his boyhood Home of Bath Ohio in 1978. One of the Milwaukee killings was t prosecuted for Lack of evidence. Dahmer said he Felt so evil and perverted that he enjoyed watching the movie the exorcist Iii years and a stint in the army passed Between Dahmer s first and Sec Ond killings. But Dahmer said he Felt a surge of Energy after the second killing that made him feel he was in Complete control of the Dahmer s spree ended when a Man fled from his apart ment with a handcuff dangling from Tonearm and alerted police. Dahmer said that if he had not Bee caught he would probably still be com mitting similar wish i could say that it just left completely but. There Are times when still do have those old compulsions he said. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is shown being interviewed on television during the syndicated show inside edition which will broadcast the segment this week. Tale of 2 cities words Fly in Battle for Columbus statue fort Lauderdale Fla. Up the future Home of a statue of Christopher Columbus has sparked a War of words Between the mayor of col Umbus Ohio and a fort Lauderdale City commis Miami Beach decided in december not to place the 300-foot statue in its Harbor fort Lauder Dale commissioner Cary Keno began lobbying to acquire the Art for his City. So did Gregory Lashutka the mayor of Columbus. A disgruntled Keno then wrote to the Christopher Columbus statue committee in Columbus accusing the group of sabotage fort Lauderdale s bid. Even though your City shares the Columbu name no one really cares enough about a town in the Middle of nowhere to travel great distances to View National Monument keep wrote. Lashutka told the fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel that Keno had insulted his City. In his letter of reply Yashulka wrote Keno that your enthusiasm. Is admirable but my lessons in sportsmanship obviously came from people who have higher standards than before closing his letter with Best wishes for for Lauderdale residents Lashutka took another shot. I would Hope in the future you will use better taste and judgment before you correspond from fort Lauderdale to Columbus he wrote. Keno was unfazed. If he s insulted what do i say it s too bad he insulted Keno said. They just Don t have what it takes to stack up to what we it
