Wednesday, December 11,1985/The Battalion/Page 9
Reagan’s HHS choice wants
Medicare services widened
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Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Otis R. Bo
wen, President Reagan’s choice to
head the Department of Health and
Human Services, said Tuesday that
Medicare should be expanded to
cover the costs of catastrophic illness
among the growing ranks of the el
derly. -
“1’his problem is one of the big
gest problems the country is going to
face in the next 25-30 years. It’s al
ready upon us,’’ the former Indiana
i governor said during his confirma
tion hearing before the Senate Fi-
rnance Committee.
He noted the surge in the U.S.
I population above age 65, and said,
[ “1 think the statistics show it costs 1 Vi
I times as much to care for someone
I 85 as 65. This gives some dimension
I to the problem."
Bowen suggested the Medicare
I expansion could be underwritten,
I without adding to the government
I tab, by increasing premiums and by
1 creating Individual Medical Ac-
| counts. The voluntary IMAs would
be similar to tax-sheltered Individ
ual Retirement Accounts: people at
age 40 or 45 could put money in spe
cial accounts to be used for medical
| expenses in their old age.
“This is one of my main priorities
|— to attempt to ease the burden
among our senior citizens in the area
of acute catastrophic care and then
for long-term care for people with
Right now many old peo
ple are unprotected if
they develop a cata
strophic illness that re
quires a long hospital stay.
Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.
Bowen was nominated as HHS
secretary Nov. 7 to succeed Marga
ret M. Heckler, who has been ap
pointed ambassador to Ireland. Bo
wen served as governor of Indiana
for eight years and has been a physi
cian for 44 years.
Bowen also chaired a presidential
advisory committee on Medicare,
and many of his ideas on the govern
ment program surfaced on the eve
of his nomination hearing in “FAH
Review,” the magazine of the Feder
ation of American Hospitals.
Bowen suggested Medicare pre
miums could be increased by about
$12 a month to provide full protec
tion against catastrophic illness in
the elderly.
Right now many old people are
unprotected if they develop a cata
strophic illness that requires a long
hospital stay because Medicare cov
ers the full cost of only the first 60
days. On the 61st day, fees of $100 a
day kick in; on the 91st day, $200 a
dav: and after 150 davs. the patient
is fully responsible.
Many Medicare recipients now
buy “Medigap” supplemental insur
ance to cover that risk, with premi
ums running from $500 to $800 a
year. Bowen said his plan would pro
vide equal or better coverage for far
less money.
“The reason this could be done as
relatively cheap as it sounds is that
the cost of the catastrophic care
would be spread across the 28 or 30
million people who are enrolled in
the Medicare program,” he told the
committee.
The other side of his proposal in
volves IMAs, to cover long-term
nursing home care for disabling dis
eases such as Alzheimer’s, which is
not covered by Medicare. People do
not become eligible for Medicaid un
til they liquidate all their assets and
fall below poverty levels.
Bowen proposes that people at
age 40 or 45 be asked to set up vol
untary IMAs to cover costs in their
old age. If they agreed, they could
pay a tax-deductible amount to the
government to be invested and, in
later years, drawn upon. He said he
thought the loss of tax revenue
would be “minimal.”
“It’s an idea for long-term care,”
he said. “It would almost have to be
in the next generation, but you have
to start sometime.”
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Three more blacks die in violence
against apartheid in South Africa
Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Police reported
the deaths of three more blacks Tuesday in violence
against white-minority rule that has raged through this
segregated nation for nearly 16 months.
1 One of the victims was a black policeman whose body
was mutilated and burned, apparently by other blacks
who saw him as a sellout to the white authorities.
A police spokesman said the black constable who was
killed was visiting his fiancee Monday night in a town
ship near Pretoria when he answered a knock at the
door and stepped outside into a group of blacks. His
mutilated and burned body was found in the morning
in a field nearby.
| About 900 people have been killed in the months of
violence, about one-third of them blacks who died at the
hands of fellow blacks. The rest died in confrontations
with police.
Rumoxs abound that the government is trying to
strike a deal with Nelson Mandela, 67, under which he
will renounce violence in return for freedom. Mandela
rejected such an offer when President P.W. Botha made
it last January.
These rumors may be surfacing since South Africa is
experiencing economic trouble due to continued riot
ing.
The government announced that payments on the
principal of foreign loans will be postponed again until
March 1. The country is in the grip of recession, infla
tion and high unemployment that have exacerbated the
racial conflict.
Botha’s government froze repayment of principal on
the $24-bilTion foreign debt Sept. 1 and said payments
would be resumed Jan. 1.
The extension to March 1 reflects difficulty in ar
ranging a new payment schedule satisfactory to bankers
in the United States and Europe, who have become con
cerned about the effects on the economy of continued
rioting.
That lack of confidence caused bankers to call in
short-term loans, rather than renewing them automat
ically, which sent South Africa’s currency into a
nosedive and prompted the repayment freeze.
Compounding the economic problems are inflation
running at a 16.8 percent annual rate and black unem
ployment estimated to be as high as 30 percent. The
government does not keep complete statistics on black
unemployment.
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Racketeering trial
Governor’s lawyer calls key prosecution witness liar
A Tribute to the Original, Traditional,
One-Hundred-Percent, All-American Christmas...
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — The racke
teering trial of Gov. Edwin Edwards
and four other men neared the jury
I Tuesday as the governor’s lawyer
wrapped up the defense’s closing ar
guments by calling a key prosecution
I witness a liar.
ating costs will'
f consumpW® *
systems every ^
windows; close
The case was expected to go to the
jury Tuesday night or Wednesday
morning following rebuttal argu
ments by U.S. Attorney John Volz.
Edwards’ attorney, James Neal,
told the jury, “I don’t like liars; I
don’t like perjurers. They sell them
selves for a mess of pottage. They
will say anything to protect them
selves.”
The Nashville, Tenn. lawyer was
referring to John Landry, who testi
fied he was told he would get a good
job if he helped make sure the state
certified a hospital project owned by
Edwards and his associates.
Prosecutors claim Landry was
bribed with a promotion as part of
an illegal scheme in which Edwards
and others made $10 million. The
defendants are accused of using
their influence to illegally obtain
state certification for hospital and
nursing home projects in which they
held interest.
Edwards, his brother, Marion;
and his business associates, Gus Mi-
jalis, Ronald Falgout and James Wyl-
lie, each are charged with one count
of violating the conspiracy section of
the federal Racketeer Influenced
and Corrujpt Organizations Act.
The Edwards brothers, Falgout
and Wyllie also face 49 counts of
mail fraud and wire fraud. Mijalis
faces three counts of mail fraud.
Prosecution witnesses and docu
ments showed that Edwards had run
up debts of more than $2 million at
several Nevada casinos over three
years, and that he paid some of them
_ with suitcases full of cash.
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