Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 9, 1993 TAG: 9309090110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Allen, speaking to the annual conference of the Blue Ridge Regional Health Care Coalition, predicted the Clinton administration will unveil a universal health-care plan that will stifle competition and place an excessive burden on employers.
"The response to the Clinton plan will be revolt," Allen said. "When can you ever get peace of mind by going to a government office?"
If employers are required to provide health insurance to their workers, "those who are currently uninsured will continue to be uninsured, but they will also be unemployed."
Allen praised the work of the coalition, which was founded in 1984 to find ways to hold down employer health-care costs. The coalition has 30 employer members, including such companies as Appalachian Power; Maid Bess Corp.; Tultex Corp.; Ingersoll-Rand Co.; and this newspaper's owner, Times-World Corp., and 11 associate members.
With the assistance of the coalition, employers in West Virginia and Southwest Virginia formed an affiliate Mountain Region Health Care Group, which includes 28 employer members and four associate members.
The coalition has established a health purchasing cooperative that covers 65,000 employees and families in the Roanoke Valley.
The coalition's conference, which ends today, has drawn analysts from Virginia and outside the state to discuss the impact of health-care reforms on employers. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is to address the conference today.
Allen suggested that more of the state's nearly 1 million uninsured, many of whom work but cannot afford health insurance, would be able to make the purchase if they were able to deduct the expense from their taxes.
The deduction would apply to individuals and self-employed workers who have been uninsured for more than one year, he said.
Allen said he would call on the state's insurance companies to develop a policy with a high deductible - between $3,000 and $5,000 - that could be purchased at very low cost.
The candidate also called for reducing the state's Medicaid bill - the item that drives the state's budget - through managed-care pilot projects. Medicaid patients, who routinely use emergency rooms, would be assigned a primary-care physician who would be in charge of a coordinated-care program.
To pay for long-term care, Allen has proposed establishing tax-free individual medical accounts, similar to IRAs, that could be drawn on to purchase health care.
"I don't want us to have to wait for Washington to dictate," he said.
Allen's Democratic opponent, former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, did not attend the conference, although Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, spoke in her place.
Both Allen and Terry were invited by Gov. Douglas Wilder to come to Richmond on Friday to discuss the state's budget woes, including the rising costs of social programs, prisons and education.
Wilder has been accused by Cranwell of exaggerating the state's financial crisis. In his response, Wilder noted that "there are those who still refuse to see the facts as they exist and who feel no compulsion to tell our citizens the truth."
Allen said he would take the governor up on his invitation.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB