ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990                   TAG: 9003152267
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSINESSES JOIN UNIONS IN PUSH FOR HEALTH REFORM

Some of the nation's largest corporations, including Marriott Corp., Ford Motor Co., American Telephone & Telegraph Co., Du Pont Co. and Eastman Kodak Co., have joined with a number of the nation's largest labor unions in an effort aimed at enacting some form of national health insurance.

The group, which will call itself the National Leadership Coalition for Health Care Reform, voted Friday to focus its attention on government solutions to the nation's health care problems.

Although organized labor has long been an advocate of national health insurance, it is only in the past few years that a number of business organizations, stung by sharply rising costs of employee health insurance, have come to the conclusion that some form of government health program is necessary.

"We want to develop an American plan" for health care, said Peggy Rhoades, executive director of the new group. She said the coalition hoped to have a proposal for a comprehensive health-care plan early next year.

Corporations belonging to the coalition are AT&T, Ameritech, Bell Atlantic Corp., BellSouth Corp., Bethlehem Steel Corp., Du Pont, Equifax Inc., Ford, Kodak, Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Co., Lockheed Corp., Marriott, Meredith Corp., Northern Telecom, Northwest Airlines Inc., Nynex Corp., Pacific Telesis Group, Pioneer Seed, Rubbermaid Inc., Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., U.S. West and W.R. Grace & Co.

Union members include the American Federation of Teachers, the Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the International Union of Electrical Workers, the Service Employees International Union and the United Steelworkers. 


 by CNB