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

DATE: MONDAY, October 31, 1994                   TAG: 9411150020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN THE NATION

WASHINGTON - Sixty million Americans went without health insurance for at least one month in the early 1990s, with half spending six months or longer with no coverage, the Census Bureau said Sunday.

Nine million people went without insurance for the 32 months covered by the survey, from January 1990 to September 1992.

The odds of having no insurance rose dramatically for those who slipped in and out of poverty.

Seventy-five percent of the public never had a lapse in health coverage. The other 25 percent went at least one month without insurance.

Only 13 percent of those living above the poverty line had no insurance for a month or more.

But 48 percent of those who spent one to six months in poverty had no insurance at some point, and 68 percent of those who were poor for one to two years had a spell without health coverage.

- Associated Press

Federal hot line on AIDS opened

WASHINGTON - The federal government is opening a toll-free telephone number today to provide treatment information by telephone or computer to people with AIDS, their families and health care providers.

The HIV-AIDS Treatment Information Service was scheduled to begin taking calls at 9 a.m. today. The number is 1-800-HIV-0440 and the hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

- Associated Press

Salvation Army No. 1 fund-raiser

WASHINGTON - The Salvation Army raised more money in private contributions last year than any other charity in America, nearly $683 million. Second place American Red Cross raised nearly $536 million.

In its annual ``Philanthropy 400'' listing, the biweekly Chronicle of Philanthropy found that giving to large organizations rose about 4 percent, the same as in 1992, to the disappointment of fund-raisers who expected more.

Second Harvest, the national network that supplies food banks across the country, ranked third at $431 million - most of it in donations of food.

The United Jewish Appeal was fourth with $408 million, followed by YMCA of the USA, $361 million; American Cancer Society, $359 million; Catholic Charities USA, $344 million, and American Heart Association, $240 million.

- Associated Press