Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 29, 1994 TAG: 9404290139
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As it echoes through the halls of academia, it gains little in clarity.
Almost everybody wants some type of reform. Almost everybody fears it.
And almost nobody can explain it.
At a forum at Radford University this week, there were more questions than answers.
Should the government guarantee health care for everyone? How will it pay for that? How much will it cost?
"To properly cost out a plan requires knowing what the plan is," said James Ross, one of four Radford professors on the panel.
And that requires that Congress pick one. It's in the process of doing that, but it likely will be many months before it becomes clear what shape the final legislation will take. In the meantime, colleges and universities are rounding up experts to speak on the subject, taking stabs at predicting what lies ahead. If nothing else, they hope to at least explain what's out there now.
"Whether something happens in D.C. or not, the changes are coming fast and furious," said Dr. Steven Mosher, director of Mary Baldwin College's health care administration program.
In an attempt to position themselves for federal reforms, Mosher said, businesses have been moving toward managed care, a system that uses "gatekeeper" doctors to determine the type and amount of care a patient may receive. Medical schools are rewriting curricula to focus not only on health care but on the entire health care system, as well. Tomorrow's doctors also are learning to expect less autonomy than their predecessors, as insurance companies, not doctors, increasingly dictate how much care a patient should get.
Health professionals from across the state and the nation will address those trends at a conference at Mary Baldwin on Monday. Mosher said the focus will be on what people know is happening in the health care field, but the question of what may be coming won't be overlooked.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, will handle the "forecasting" portion of the conference, Mosher said. He'll talk to 220 doctors, nurses and students.
"They're coming for answers," Mosher said.
Hollins College also tried to provide answers to what's happening in the health care debate during its winter seminar this year. The college tried to provide a variety of perspectives with a series of speakers that included local health care professionals, spokeswoman Linda Steele said.
But at least one speaker came looking for answers of his own.
Sen. Charles Robb used the opportunity to get feedback from constituents on what they wanted Congress to include in reform legislation, Steele said.
At Radford Wednesday night, it was the students who were looking for answers.
About 25 students got a rundown on how American health care compares with that provided in other countries, the benefits included in some of the proposals before Congress, and the ethical dilemmas involved in trying to cover all Americans without destroying the economy.
The speakers covered a lot of issues and raised a lot of questions, but delivered few definitive answers for what the future holds.
Except this one:
Asked whether reforming the nation's health care system would raise or lower insurance premiums, economics professor Nozar Hashhemzadeh had a quick reply:
"I assure you," he said, "that your health insurance premiums will go up."
by CNB