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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 6, 1993                   TAG: 9303060313
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

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EXPANDED VA SYSTEM PROPOSED

The new head of the Department of Veterans Affairs is touting an idea that could endear him to the nation's 26 million veterans: He wants the government dramatically to expand the VA's health-care system.

Coming at a time when the Clinton administration is talking about streamlining government, VA Secretary Jesse Brown may seem to be out of step.

But Brown argues that his plan is "consistent with the president's vision" for a new health-care system and would "not bankrupt the system." Indeed, the new secretary said his plan, which he has laid before the White House task force on health care, may save taxpayers money.

Brown's proposal calls for giving the estimated 23 million veterans who do not use VA hospitals a chance to "buy into" the VA health-care system using either private insurance funds or the federal government's Medicare and Medicaid funds.

Assuming enough veterans signed up, that approach not only could cure the chronic funding problems facing the VA's 171 hospitals, Brown said, but it could also help the White House get a handle on soaring medical costs.

Citing VA studies showing that system can provide medical care at 16 percent to 22 percent below the cost of private hospitals, Brown said "tremendous cost savings" argues strongly that the VA health-care system should become "a laboratory" for health-care reform. - The Washington Post

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