European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 11, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday november 11, 193$" commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 mistrust should afflict Clinton health reforms t before we begin dissecting the proposed health care reforms of the Clinton administration it should be noted that there is one element not included in the voluminous document Trust do we. Trust president Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton enough to allow them to completely renovate America s health care system we put our safety and lives in the hands of other people every Day. We either Trust them because of our personal experience with them or we Trust them implicitly because of their training and the standards enforced in their profession ithe former group would include doctors. A lot of us know our doctors Well. The latter would include airline pilots whom we probably never even see much less  i have been demonstrated no reason to Trust in the ability of the president and his administration to fix the Economy or to develop a workable for eign policy i certainly won t Trust them to design a health care ? because a flawed philosophy about humanity and government that it is and should be our redeemer per meates All of their policies and Cal Thomas rules their proposed health care Reform package. It is Clear that if the Central portions of the Clinton health care plan Are approved the Quality of a person s life As determined by a huge government bureaucracy will replace the intrinsic value or Sanctity of  that Trade is made there will be no stopping government from self deification especially in matters involving life and death such As whether to Grant Healing potions and costly surgery to people who Are. According to a government formula no longer judged fit to live. No wonder our Trust is shaken. Already Weare being told that initial Cost figures were wrong. Health and human services Secretary Donna e. Shalala said recently that 40 percent of us will actually have to pay More than originally predicted. Hillary Clinton had said earlier that Only 20 to 22 percent would pay More but they would get better coverage. But Many find that hard to believe the better cover they want to know How Medicine will be better for the patient when giant collectives or regional Alli ances remove incentives for profit research per Sonal relationships Between doctors and patients and people Are herded into health maintenance organizations where the turnstiles must revolve quickly so that Money will be made in sufficient amounts to keep the machine  then can look Forward to treatment that could come from physician assistants or a different doctor each time who May not be As familiar with the patient As today s family doctors usually Are. This is bound to increase the anxiety level of Many for whom a personal relationship with the doctor and the Trust that goes with it is an essential part of the Healing process. Assembly lines and Bottom lines will become significant factors not compassion and dig nity and affirmation. More government especially dispensed by the cur rent administration is exactly the wrong cure for what ails health  Are sceptical of political Savior who make grandiose promises then fail to deliver. They should be even More sceptical of a plan authored by an administration whose Stock in Trust was Low coming in and has not gone up in its first 10 months in  at the health plan from London the economist wisely notes not since Franklin Roosevelt s War production Board has it been suggested that so Large a part of the american Economy should suddenly be brought under government  if this plan is bought in its entirety or even in its most Basic elements there will be no turning Back. Once an entitlement is in place it is More difficult to dislodge than an incumbent member of Congress. The question comes Down to Trust would you Trust Bill and Hillary Clinton to make the decisions on your personal health care before you answer consider the performance of this administration and government in general to perform efficiently at a reasonable Cost. The words of John Adams should serve As a warning Trust no Man living with Power to endanger the Public  c los Angeles times Price prognoses Send chill through health plan _. I Ninham to a aet Imata thin. Lit nil hex Farr amid the intricacies of health care change the monthly Price tag for the average american who would pay More or less is a Plain everyday question the administration has had trouble  be just tried again after scrub Bing the numbers As they say in health care jargon. The new administration estimate is that costs would go up for 30 percent of health insured americans under presi Dent Clinton s proposal instead of the40 percent they had said before. Budget director Leon e. Panetta said the increases would average about $24 a month while 70 percent of the Peop e who now have health insurance would save an average of $61 a  earlier higher number was no offhand estimate it came from the department of health and human serv ices computed Down to the  then the Clinton program had been delayed refined recomputed made into a Bill and described in a so the Price problem is self inflicted on a Point that is particularly vulnerable politically because it is so simply  lady Hillary Rodham Clinton saw it coming. This will be the next big ground of attack against the president proposal she said last week. The president and the first lady aged a counteroffensive saying that most of the people facing higher costs would get better coverage for Small in creases and that Theresa about 15 per cent Are healthy Young people who will catch up  s fair the president said. Besides he said everybody gets More value because "100 per cent of the Amer ican people get something no one has today absolute  then aftera week the Esti mate was reduced to 30 percent. Secretary of the Treasury lloy Bentsen explained that the previous one did not take into account offsetting savings such As lower deductibles and co insurance payments. Both Clinton had tried to play Down the Price question. She had called it non sense. He said it was a subject of some  also is a subject of some sensitivity. It is actual not actuarial. And it comes with a bit of recent history to show what can happen when rates go up even for broadened coverage. Congress expanded medicare in 1988 to cover catastrophic illness costs with Walter r. Mears higher premiums and a special surtax on High income retirees to pay for it stirring elder opposition that led to repeal in 1989. This situation is very different said Ira Magaziner the top White House adviser on health care. He said some people Are going to have to pay More to provide for their own Protection so that everybody carries his or her own weight. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski who was Pur sued and jeered by demonstrating senior citizens in Chicago during the medicare episode is handling this one with care. We represent the people the Illinois Democrat said and if the people want health insurance and Are willing to pay for it As a recent poll showed they re going to get  but he also said in a can interview that if substantial numbers of people would be paying More Well just have to make some  the Price question grew out of administration testimony for the Clinton plan sept. 28. For a relatively Small number of our citizens this new system will Cost a bit More Secretary of health and human services Donna e. Shalala said. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan d n.y., wanted to know How Many Recal Ling that the whole medicare Flap stemmed from a slight change in fees five years ago. The estimate then in an has Chart was that 40.4 percent would pay More. Moynihan said the health plan Esti mate was going to mean convincing a lot of people that they would get More for their Money or should pay More As a civic duty. We re not always very Good at that he said. Using the lowered estimate on individual costs about 51 million people would be paying More than they do now. That s a big number and a big sales Job. Clinton was elected president with 43.7 million votes. In his Campaign for that election he suggested that health care could be extended and reformed at Little or no Cost its expansion offset by massive savings and the deficit curbed to Boot. It does not require new taxes he said in a Campaign speech 13 months ago. The Aims Are the same but the Cost and savings projections Are not so optimistic now As then. Even so the polls indicate that most people still think the Cost estimates Are too Low and believe that they would wind up paying More. Without Reform that s a certainty Panetta said. If we fail to pass this plan 100 percent of americans can be expected to pay higher insurance premiums he said because that s where health care costs Are going right  la the Assoon a press