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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995                   TAG: 9501170076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

HEALTH CARE BIGGEST LOBBY IN RICHMOND

For many of the more than 1,000 lobbyists at the General Assembly, the top issue this year is not tax cuts, school reform or even riverboat gambling - it's health care.

There are no dramatic health care plans before the assembly, but insurers, hospitals, pharmacists, nursing homes, nurses and physicians in all their specialties make up the largest lobbying contingent at the session.

``Health is just one of the most important issues that's before the nation,'' said Sandra Miller, whose law firm, Mays & Valentine, represents hospitals, dentists, drug manufacturers and insurers. ``The same thing is carried over into Virginia.''

``I must have about 27 issues that I know are going to be hot,'' said Madeline Wade, who represents 6,600 physicians in the Medical Society of Virginia. ``I know there will be a lot more than that.''

By the session's start Wednesday, the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office had registered 1,029 lobbyists representing 567 groups. About 15 percent of the lobbyists are with groups concerned with health issues.

Other sizable lobbying forces are education, gambling, local government and business.

Legislators and lobbyists say health care bills have drawn more attention with the emergence in the last few years of managed-care networks, in which insurers negotiate discounted fees with a limited group of physicians. Physicians want to be free to join any network so they won't lose patients; insurers want to limit the number of physicians involved to keep costs down.

The legislative debate centers on such arcane terms as ``any willing provider,'' but the outcome could determine who provides health care and how much it costs.

``We all hear from all sides,'' said Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg, chairman of the Joint Commission on Health Care. ``The one group, and I hate to say it, that is left out of the group is the average John Doe citizen.''

Many health industry groups have political action committees that give campaign money to legislators.

They also get a sympathetic ear from lawmakers with ties to the medical industry. On the health care commission, Sen. Clarence Holland, D-Virginia Beach, is a physician and Del. Julia Connally, D-Arlington, is married to one. Del. Harvey Morgan, R-Gloucester, is a pharmacist and Sen. Benjamin Lambert, D-Richmond, is an optometrist.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995

by CNB