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

DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994                   TAG: 9404260018
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARIAN FLICKINGER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DECEPTIVE ADS GIVE HEALTH PLAN A BUM RAP

Why are teachers and other school employees supporting the Clinton plan's principles? Simply put, if a school district can control its health-care costs, more money would be available for education. According to a just-released 50-state survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the president's Health Security Act would save the state of Virginia $659 million.

But while savings would be achieved, quality and choice of health care would not be compromised. Everyone would be guaranteed a basic benefits package. Current plans would be preserved with the opportunity for an even greater choice of options, with more security and at less cost, since cost-shifting would be eliminated.

School employees may be more aware of the health-care crisis than most.Teachers and paraprofessionals see firsthand the toll that the crisis has taken on our nation's children.Many don't see a doctor even once during a year. Sometimes children's only source of health care is a school nurse - and many districts are eliminating these positions.A sick child is a poor learner. We must ensure that all Americans - including the very young - can be guaranteed health care.

By any indicator, the crisis in children's health care is growing more acute. The United States ranked 20th in the world in infant mortality in 1990. Less than 60 percent of all schoolchildren are fully immunized. The rate of tuberculosis among children increased 35 percent in 1993. Among the industrialized nations, only South Africa and the United States leave their children without a guarantee of medical coverage.

Right now, only the wealthy can count on guaranteed health insurance. If you're employed, you're at the mercy of your employer. Eighty-eight percent of the uninsured are working people and their families. The numbers of uninsured middle-class American are growing rapidly. If you're unemployed, you're probably out of luck. And the health care you're able to obtain is paid for by those who have insurance - cost-shifting.

Here's how President Clinton's plan would benefit all Americans. You'll see it is the farthest thing from rationed, socialized medicine:

Everyone would be guaranteed private health insurance that never could be taken away.

Everyone would be guaranteed a choice of provider and plan.

All employers would be required to pitch in to help employees buy health coverage. Ninety percent of Americans with private health insurance get it through work now.

Medicare would be preserved and strengthened by the provision of choice, prescription coverage and long-term care.

Finally, the Clinton plan outlaws insurance company abuses, such as dropping coverage; discrimination on the basis of health status, age or pre-existing conditions; jacking up premiums; or imposing lifetime benefit caps for specific conditions or any other reason.

The Clinton plan promises all Americans - children, teens and adults - an unprecedented guarantee of health-care security. The plan's reliance on primary and preventive care is sound medical policy and is dazzlingly cost-effective, especially for children.

America has two choices: Keep the status quo, or live up to our vision of ourselves as a civilized nation in which no one suffers a preventable illness or goes without medical treatment.

Marian Flickinger is president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers and a member of the executive board of the Virginia AFL-CIO.