THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603030072
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
A health maintenance organization agreed to allow Del. Robert Tata's daughter to see a highly paid specialist in Florida about the same time Tata was preparing to vote on legislation that would have reined in HMOs.
Tata said he did not improperly use his legislative position to pressure the HMO to re-evaluate his daughter's case.
But the Virginia Beach Republican acknowledged that any lawmaker may get the benefit of the doubt when dealing with state-regulated managed-care companies.
``You can't overlook the fact that you are sitting up here,'' Tata said during an interview in his General Assembly Building office. ``But at the same time, this is a rare case.''
His daughter - a teacher and coach at Kempsville High School - has suffered chronic pain in her lower jaw for several years.
``We've sent her to doctor after doctor, but nobody has been able to tell us exactly what is wrong,'' Tata said. ``It's terrible. She's gone from 115 pounds to 99 pounds since August.''
Initially, an HMO turned down her request to visit a leading specialist for lower-jaw pain. But the HMO reversed itself in January, as a committee on which Tata sits prepared to consider a bill that some said could lead to the ruination of HMOs.
Tata never voted on the measure that the HMO industry found so objectionable: The bill was amended before it reached the House Committee on Corporations, Insurance and Banking.
In late January, Tata missed a day of the General Assembly - his first absence in his 11-year tenure - to accompany his wife and daughter to Miami.
His daughter later returned for tests that may show whether the condition is related to nerve damage or an undetected infection.
Tata declined to name the HMO. Virginia Beach teachers have the choice of three different plans.
``They have been good to us,'' Tata said. ``I have been fortunate.''
House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr. was more than a little steamed last week when some Republicans voted against a bill involving withholding allowances for state income taxes.
Moss had hoped for no political games. Democrats and Republican Gov. George F. Allen said the bill was necessary to balance the 1996-98 state budget. Moss said he had an understanding with Allen that Republicans would not try to score political points in future campaigns by describing the bill as a tax increase.
But when 18 Republicans voted against the measure, Moss exploded: ``I can't believe that. Sergeant at Arms, get me a copy of that vote. I want to share it with the governor.''
Republicans were equally upset at Moss, suggesting the speaker implied he would retaliate against those who refused to go along with the withholding delay.
Veteran GOP Del. R.R. ``Andy'' Guest rose to his feet in protest. ``I'm not sure that type of language is necessary. There's an intimidation factor in it, and it is beneath you.''
Moss denied that intimidation was his goal. He later explained that he was upset that Allen had not kept his word.
``I wanted to show the governor that his word apparently did not filter down to his people. I have no apologies for that,'' he said.
Moss was still smarting from an earlier - and unprecedented - challenge to the speaker's authority.
On Feb. 22, a backbench Republican questioned a Moss ruling that prevented the House from voting on a budget amendment aimed at curbing political activism by George Mason University officials.
House rules allow a member to challenge the speaker's rulings on whether amendments are germane. By tradition, however, such a move is extremely rare.
Moss had faced only one challenge during his five-year tenure, and that motion drew but one vote in support.
The most recent challenge, however, was backed by 34 Republicans.
Moss was so incensed that he carried the blue vote tally around for a week, pulling it out at social functions to review the names.
Republicans say they will not be cowed from future challenges - regardless of House tradition.
``Doesn't he realize he is only steeling our resolve?'' said Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr., a Virginia Beach Republican and House Republican Caucus leader.
Former Virginia Beach Sen. C.A. ``Clancy'' Holland was on the other side of the podium last week when he returned to the General Assembly to speak against a health care bill.
The chain-smoking family doctor spoke against a bill allowing women in HMOs to bypass family physicians and go straight to the gynecologist.
``We are not potted plants,'' Holland told his former colleagues on the Senate Education and Health.
The familiarity of the setting caused Holland to slip back into the role of lawmaker. When someone asked him a question, Holland stated, ``I yield'' - the formal language that lawmakers use to indicate they will allow a question.
``You're going to get this question whether you do or not,'' Fairfax Sen. Richard L. Saslaw replied, prompting good-natured chuckles all around.
The bill sailed through the committee, just as Holland knew it would.
``It was a useless trip,'' he later said, ``but I wasn't not going to come.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB