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

DATE: MONDAY, March 16, 1992                   TAG: 9203160169
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HEALTH CARE: WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?

Advances in medicine such as bypass surgery, transplants and the ability to keep the human body alive on machines, often when there is no hope of recovery, place our doctors in a God-like position. I doubt many doctors approve of that role, as lawyers watch their every move.

Many articles in this paper have dealt with the rise in health-insurance costs. But when an insurance company denies coverage for transplant surgery that it terms experimental, a cry goes up. If indeed all transplants, etc., are to be covered, soon none of us will be able to afford insurance.

It has been proposed that all insurance companies go to a unified form for claims to reduce the $67 billion a year spent to process all the different forms in use. It is said that many people would lose their jobs if this happened. Can we really afford to pay people to do a job that is manufactured, especially in the medical field?

Often when a family member is terminally ill, we say to do everything possible to keep them alive, instead of letting them die in peace, with dignity.

National health care will be run by the government, whose track record is not all that good. They will make choices for us that many will find hard to accept. That will be our legacy to future generations if we continue on our present path. ALICE R. LAWRENCE ROANOKE