I
Blue Cross-Blue Shield: a rip?
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A prelimi
nary draft of a government report
indicates Blue Cross-Blue Shield
has not taken advantage of its size to
keep health-insurance costs low, a
Social Security Administration offi
cial said Tuesday.
Dorothy Bice, who heads the So
cial Security Administration’s Re
search and Statistics office, said the
report concludes that management
of the giant nonprofit health insurer
is less efficient than that of profit-
seeking competitors.
The study, said Mrs. Rice,
“doesn’t make the Blues look good.
They could be more efficient. ”
The government report is consis
tent with an Associated Press study
which showed Blue Cross and Blue
Shield rates were increasing faster
than the cost of living, in part be
cause the Blues had failed to impose
strict cost-cutting measures on doc
tors and hospitals.
The AP study revealed that the
failure to enforce standards had cost
ratepayers millions of dollars.
A Social Security Administration
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iRstoMR . so;
spokesman confirmed the accuracy
of excerpts from a preliminary draft
of the government’s study which
appeared Tuesday in the
Washington Post.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield,
which handle almost half the private
health coverage in the United
States, “have not taken advantage of
potential economies of scale to re
duce the cost of coverage, ” the ex
cerpts said.
W'
m
M
“Instead they have dissipated the
potential saving in increased ad- **JJ?
ministrative costs,” said the draft, .•..j
written by Ronald Vogel of the Re- i; i
search and Statistics office, and
Roger D. Blair of the University of !*Kji
THE BATTALION Page 5
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3. 1975
Court ends other
suits on Coastal
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Coastal States Gas
Corp. has obtained a temporary re
straining order to delay further pro
secution of customer lawsuits pend
ing against two subsidiaries, Coastal
States Gas Producing Co. and Lo-
Vaca Gathering Co.
The order approved by Judge
Robert H. Hamilton covers cases
with issues similar to those pending
in a Houston class action suit filed
by United Texas Transmission Co.
Haldeman
files appeal
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for
H. R. Haldeman appealed his
Watergate cover-up conviction
Tuesday saying he was tried in an
atmosphere “supersaturated with
the utter assumption of guilt.”
The appeal also accused the trial
judge, John J. Sirica, of pre-trial
maneuvering calculated to help the
prosecution.
Haldeman, the White House
chief of staff under former President
Richard M. Nixon, was convicted
along with three other men of con
spiring to cover up the Watergate
affair. Haldeman was sentenced to
serve 2 1 A to 8 years in prison.
The appeal filed Tuesday with the
U.S. Court of Appeals claimed that
pre-trial publicity made a fair trial
impossible and that much of the
publicity was generated by the gov
ernment itself.
It also claimed Sirica should not
have allowed the jury to hear the
White House tape recordings and
that Sirica gave instructions that
were “repetitive, slanted in favor of
the government . . . and impro
perly directed the jury to return a
verdict of guilty.”
The cover-up trial began Oct. 1
last year, less than two months after
the resignation of President Nixon.
Haldeman had resigned as Nixon’s
top lieutenant on April 30, 1973
when the Watergate scandal was
breaking full-blown into print.
Inventories
fall in July
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Inventories
of goods held by the nation’s man
ufacturers declined in July for the
fifth consecutive month, the gov
ernment said today. It was an indi
cation recovery from the recession
is picking up steam.
The Commerce Department said
industry stockpiles decreased $950
million, or six-tenths of 1 per cent,
the same as reported a month ear
lier. The steady decrease since
March is unprecedented in more
than 14 years.
The reduction of goods in
warehouses and stockrooms is con
sidered a vital step to boosting in
dustrial production.
The Commerce Department said
inventories in July totaled *147.1
billion, down from *148 billion in
June.
Bullock
challenged
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Tex. — Interstate
Theaters Inc. filed a lawsuit Tues
day challenging the authority of
Comptroller Bob Bull^bk to collect
theater admission taxes.
A date for a hearing on the case
has not been set. The suit seeks to
recover $230,905 in admission taxes
paid to the state during April, May
and June. The tax was paid under
protest but the protest was denied
by Bullock following an administra
tive hearing.
The petition filed by the theater
chain claims a 1962 ruling of the
Texas Supreme Court held that the
admissions tax was unconstitution
al.
Welcome back
AGGIES!
Smile
Washateria
:IES HOUSE OF TIRES HOUSE
Clean and Cool
1 block behind Pepe Taco
on behalf of all customers of Lo-
Vaca’s gas system.
All customers also were re
strained from filing or causing to be
filed any new lawsuits raising simi
lar issues.
Pending suits affected by the
order have been filed by the City of
Austin, City of Brownsville, Central
Power & Light Co., City of Corpus
Christi, City of San Antonio, and
the City Public Service Board of San
Antonio.
Also affected would be further ac
tion or retrial of a Bryan case in
which the Lower Colorado River
Authority was awarded a judgment
totaling $26.1 million.
Hamilton, a former Texas Sup
reme Court justice, set a hearing for
next Monday on a temporary in
junction. Hamilton has been ap
pointed a special judge to try the
United Texas suit that is pending in
113th Civil District Court.
United Texas, formerly Pennzoil
Pipeline Co., filed its suit in 1973
seeking to rescind certain transac
tions that allegedly adversely af
fected deliveries of gas to Lo-Vaca
customers.
Lo-Vaca and Coastal States Gas
Producing later filed counterclaims
seeking a declaratory judgment in
the suit, contending they, as public
utilities, are entitled to allocate av
ailable supplies of natural gas among
all customers, in accordance with
regulatory authority rules, without
liability.
Lone Star Gas Co., one of the
cross defendants named by Lo-Vaca
and Coastal States Gas Producing,
later filed a cross claim seeking
damages for gas curtailments.
Florida.
McCarthy
refuses
FEC audit
Associated Press
The Federal Election Commis
sion (FEC) decided against sending
auditors from Washington to
Eugene McCarthy’s presidential
campaign headquarters as
scheduled today after McCarthy
said he would not submit to an au
dit.
“The commission meets Thurs
day, and it will be referred to the
commissioners then,” a commission
spokesman said. “It will be up to
them what we do next.”
The commission planned to audit
McCarthy s books as it does all pres
idential candidates. But McCarthy’s
campaign manager said Saturday
the auditors would not be admitted
today.
Campaign chairman Ronald
Cocome said “our repeated efforts
to learn the purpose of the audit
have been met by confusing and
contradictory statements from the
commission . . . we are forced to
draw the conclusion that there is no
specific purpose or legal basis for
the audit.”
McCarthy, who sought the
Democratic presidential nomina
tion in 1968, now is running for
president as an independent. He
has opposed in the courts the new
election reform law, which created
the FEC, as an unconstitutional re
straint on the freedoms of candi
dates and contributors.
A ruling last month against his
position is being appealed to the
Supreme Court.
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| Please Print or Type
5278 |
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| Street Address
1
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