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                        OF NOTE...
                        News to Use

Vol. III, Issue 68                                September 1, 1994
Earl Appleby, Jr., Editor                         CURE, Ltd.

                         Addictions

According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
smokers burn up $50 billion a year in medical costs associated with
cigarettes, about $2 a pack. $26.9 billion is spent on hospitalization
alone. Taxpayers paid 43% of the tab. Thomas Lauria of the industry-
backed Tobacco Institute declared, "Smokers are not only paying their
own way, but they add to the public coffers." Speaking of public
coffers, taxpayers pay 43% of the tobacco health cost tab or 89 cents
for every pack smoked. (An Expensive Habit, Morning Herald, 7/8/94)

"Reckless drivers who don't seem drunk may be high on cocaine or
marijuana, according to roadside test that indicate drugs may rival
alcohol as a hazard on the highway. Police in Memphis, TN, gave urine
tests to reckless drivers who appeared not to be drunk. They found that
more than half were on cocaine or pot. 'It was a surprise that so many
were under the influence of drugs, although we suspected there would be a
significant number,' said police Inspector Charles S. Cook. Police
routinely give breath tests to bad drivers whom they suspect to be drunk.
However, on-the-spot testing for others drugs is rare, since it requires
taking a urine specimen--something not practical on the highway. For an
experiment in roadside drug testing, Memphis police put together a 'drug
van.'...The results of the police experiment were written for today's
issue of the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Daniel Brookoff of
Methodist Hospital in Memphis. Brookoff said he decided to get involved
in the issue of drugged driving after a man hit a friend's two daughter's
while driving on the wrong side of the road...Brookoff believe he was
high on marijuana." (Tests Indicate Cocaine, Marijuana Responsible for
Reckless Driving, Martinsburg Journal, 8/25/94)

                         Against the Odds

"There undoubtedly have been many nasty accidents reported in this
newspaper, and I have heard that mine is one of them. Although I was
completely unconscious and unable to read anything when the report of my
accident first came out, I'm happy to be able to report that my healing
has already proceeded further and more completely than the doctors ever
dared to predict was possible!...Although I still don't personally
remember anything about the accident, I've been told that Maryland's
finest summoned the Med-Evac helicopter...The emergency crew...had to cut
apart my flattened Datsun king-cab pickup truck to pull me out, nut since
it had already been smashed down much closer to the ground, I don;t think
their actions lessened its value a bit! Once they'd gotten me into the
'copter, they flew me to Hagerstown Hospital's Emergency Room, where the
doctors proceeded to stop my bleeding, and fix what they could of my
broken body. The most obvious problem I had was a completely smashed
right wrist, plus the fact that the accident knocked me entirely
unconscious. I stayed unconscious for 49 days, which caused the doctors
to diagnose my case as a 'severe head trauma.' That may seem rough to
some, but I saw on the TV news, one day, that a man in Georgia had
awakened after an eight year coma! " (Making a Great Comeback, Joe Tobey,
op-ed, Frederick News-Post, 7/8/94) CURE Comment: Our congratulations to
Joe and his family. CURE has been privileged to work with a number of
brave men and women living in coma and their families. My dad, Earl Sr.,
lived with us at home in coma for nearly 10 years before he died in 1990.
He is the true founder of CURE.

                         AIDS Addenda

"Caitlan Ryan, who last year was fired as director of the DC Agency for
HIV/AIDS for allegedly meddling with an AIDS contract, last week settled
her appeal of that dismissal. She was reinstated and immediately allowed
to resign. Under the terms of the agreement, the District government
agreed to pay Ryan $30,000 for legal fees, and Ryan agreed to withdraw
both her appeal of the firing and a separate complaint she had filed with
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging she was fired
because of her sex and her race. Ryan, who is white and a lesbian, was
fired September 4, 1993, after city officials decided she had tried to
steer a contract away from a clinic that has ties to the Nation of Islam.
...Ryan's firing aggravated a political fight over aids funding. Some
minority-run AIDS organizations contend they should receive more funding
because the epidemic was spreading more rapidly among minority groups."
(Ousted DC AIDS Chief Settles Appeal With City, DeNeen Brown, Washington
Post, 7/19/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For earlier coverage, see The
Politics of AIDS in the 12/15/93 Of Note (ON9312B.*) wherever ABLENEWS
files are found.

"When Americans are asked what hope there is to halt the AIDS pandemic,
we often hear the routine prediction that one day there will be a
vaccine. After all, that is our history: from smallpox to polio and
measles., we have developed vaccines that could successfully and often
ingeniously prevent the scourge of vital infection. But at a recent
Rockefeller Foundation-sponsored international conference to review
prospects for a worldwide AIDS vaccine, a more pessimistic view was
expressed, and for a startling reason. Although the experts thought that
it was technically likely that a vaccine could be developed, they doubted
that adequate incentives were present. In short, the research capability
was there, but the social will was lacking." --Donald Francis, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, and Donald Kennedy, former
commissioner, Food and Drug Administration. (A Private-Sector AIDS
Vaccine? Don't Hold Your Breath, Francis and Kennedy, op-ed, WP, 7/20/94)

"California Democrats have been pushing to have James C. Hormel, heir to
the meatpacking family fortune and a well-known San Francisco
philanthropist and civic leader, given an ambassadorship. If nominated,
veteran diplomats say Hormel, a leading AIDS activist, would be the
country's first openly gay ambassador. Sources say there was some concern
in the administration about exactly where to place Hormel so as not to
turn this into a big deal...So the administration looked around. There
was an opening in Fiji, which could be big, especially with the priority
being given to Asian-Pacific Rim countries these days. But someone in the
administration thought maybe Fiji laws banned homosexual activity and
that might not work out. Perhaps another spot could be found while this
was checked out? So someone suggested Costa Rica. But the State
Department strongly objected, pointing out that attitudes there were not
exactly receptive...So it looks like Hormel is still pencilled in for
Fiji." (Pacific Isle for an Activist? Al Kamen, op-ed, WP, 7/20/94)

"When Americans are asked what hope there is to halt the AIDS pandemic.
we often hear the confident prediction that one day there will be a
vaccine. After all, that is our history: from smallpox to polio and
measles, we have developed vaccines that could successfully and often
ingeniously prevent the scourge of viral infection. But at a recent
Rockefeller Foundation-sponsored international conference to review
prospects for a worldwide AIDS vaccine, a more pessimistic view was
expressed, and for a startling reason. Although the expert conferees
thought it technically likely that a vaccine could be developed, they
doubted that adequate incentives were present. In short the research
capacity was there, but the social will was lacking." --Donald Francis,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Donald Kennedy, former
Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration. (A Private-Sector AIDS
Vaccine? Don't Hold Your Breath, Francis and Kennedy, op-ed, WP, 7/20/94)

"Doctors treating AIDS patients these days have to think a little like
major league baseball managers. How does this pitcher do in high humidity
on two days' rest? What are the stats on right-handed batters facing this
red-hot rookie just brought up from the farm team? When is one error a
sign that a fielder is having an off night and should be yanked? Medical
versions of these questions are very popular at the 10th International
Conference on AIDS. There is no excellent treatment for human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Lacking that, much of the
discussion on AIDS therapy has focused on evaluating small differences
between drugs, projecting small benefits, and trying to understand the
complex behavior of both the virus and the human immune system it
attacks." (A Call for the Big Picture on AIDS Research, David Brown,
Washington Post, 8/11/94)

                         Blue Cross Blues

Just two weeks after Blue-Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland began selling
new health insurance coverage designed for small businesses, it has
slashed prices as much as 30%. Company officials apparently feared a loss
of business in light of the fact that its preferred provider organization
plan, which favors a Blue Cross network of doctors at discount rates, was
priced 30% above market, while its traditional indemnity coverage was 20%
above norm. Approving the price cuts, Donald Brandenberg, chief actuary
of the Maryland Insurance Administration, forecast, "It could be a
feeding frenzy for market share." (Blue Cross Cuts Small-Business Prices,
Patricia Meisol, Baltimore Sun, 7/15/94)

Testifying before a House hearing, Gregory Morris, senior vice president
of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of the National Capital Area, denied
charges it chooses doctors for its newest health care network based on
how cheaply--not how well--they practice medicine. Morris admitted the
plan offers financial incentives to visit doctors who are "cost-
effective" but claimed they are "well qualified." In a suit filed last
month, however, the local chapter of the American Medical Association
affirmed that Blue Cross unfairly rejects many qualified doctors. The
legal effort seeks an end to the Blues' preferred provider organization
(PPO) and $3 million in damages. Critics contend that by taking into
account a physician's locality and specialty, the PPO discriminates
against doctors who necessarily practice more costly medicine as they
treat poorer patients who tend to be in poorer health. Addressing the
same hearing, Rodney Ellis, vice president of the Medical Society of the
District of Columbia, testified that Blue Cross excluded a
disproportionate amount of obstetricians and gynecologists in the
Northeast and Southeast parts of the city, leaving pregnant mothers and
newborn babies with inadequate medical care. The federal government's
Office of Personnel Management, however, went to bat for the Blues,
citing $30 million in savings. (Blue Cross Denies Using Only Inexpensive
Doctors, David Leonhardt, Washington Post, 7/20/94) CURE Comment: We
commend the District's doctors for defending the interests of their
patients in the courts.

                         Body Language

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, one in three
Americans is seriously overweight. The 58 million, who exceed the ideal
body weight for their age, height, and sex by 20% or more, face an
increased danger of heart diseases, diabetes, and other chronic
illnesses.  The number of overweight Americans has climbed an
unprecedented 8% in the 11 years from 190-1991 during which the average
body weight rose 8 pounds. By comparison in the 20-year period 1960-1980,
the number of overweight Americans increased only 1%. (More Americans Are
Too Fat, Study Shows, Sally Squires, Washington Post, 7/20/94)

                         Courting Disaster

"The Supreme Court's measured decision on restricting protests at
abortion facilities struck some people as a fine example of moderation.
To me, it proved one thing: Injustice in moderation is no better than
injustice in extreme. The court's action toned down the extreme ruling of
a state court that upheld a ban on approaching people without their
consent within 300 feet of an abortion clinic. But it upheld a
prohibition on picketing or demonstrating within 36 feet of the
place...'The justices,' said The Post, in an editorial July 4, 'made
reasonable choices.' Leave aside for the moment the practical matter that
there are only 25 feet of space between the Florida abortion facility's
front door and the road. The court majority's 36-feet dictum is
unprecedented in the 200-year history of the US Constitution. Even during
the entire history of the unruly protest against the war in Vietnam, the
court was able to restrain itself from instituting any tape-measure
rulings...The court's decision does further damage to an already eroded
right. It's a mistake for the court to protect the First Amendment only
moderately. The First Amendment isn't about moderation; it's about
liberty, and its only valid when unpopular voices are allowed to exercise
it peacefully either on a tree stump or on a public sidewalk without fear
of injuctive harassment." --Wiilam Kelly Eidem, columnist, Diamondback,
University of Maryland. (Tape-Measure Justice, Eidem, op-ed, WP, 7/20/94)

                         Dateline World

French Prosecutor General Pierre Truche has opened an inquiry into
charges that former Prime Minister Laurent Faubius and other top federal
officials were responsible for the distribution of AIDS-infected blood
though a national blood bank. Earlier officials had ruled the statute of
limitations prevented charging the ex-ministers with negligence in the
infection of more than 1,000 hemophiliacs with the AIDS virus in 1985.
The charges against Faubius and former Social Affairs Minister Georgina
Dufoix and former Deputy Health Minister Edmond Herve have a maximum
penalty of 10 years imprisonment, but more the AIDS-tainted blood has
already taken the lives of more than 300 hemophiliacs. Families of the
victims, many of them children, continue to press the government to
pursue officials linked to France's worst health scandal. Public reaction
contributed to the defeat of the nation's Socialist regime last year.
(French Prosecutor Opens Probe of Ex-Ministers in AIDS Scandal,
Washington Post, 7/19/94)

"A controversial bill allowing poor elderly parents in Singapore to sue
their children for support moved closer to law yesterday. The parliament
forwarded the bill to a seven-member committee which will fine-tune it.
The Maintenance of Parents Bill, proposed by academic and nominated
member of parliament Walter Woon, has provoked opposition with people
calling it unwarranted and un-Asian. But Mr. Woon and other supporters
say it is aimed only at those few children who can afford to take care of
their parents and refuse. One opponent, Lew Syn Pau, told parliament:
'The few bad hats who neglect their parents for whatever reason do not
justify the introduction of such a law. It is like using a sledgehammer
to kill a fly. Many of us would not think of suing our doctors, dentists
or teachers, even if they do a bad job, much less our children. Having to
sue our children is an indictment of ourselves that we brought them up
badly in the first place.'...Mr. Woon told the parliament the bill was
meant to complement rather than replace moral education. 'We're fooling
ourselves if we think we have a perfect Confucian society where all
children look after their parents,' he said." (Singapore Mulls Bill on
Parent Support, Washington Times, 7/27/94)

                         Family Affair

"Welfare reform, unlike health care reform, is moving along at a good
clip on Capitol Hill. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick
Moynihan (D-NY), who scowled at health, loves welfare, and when Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala went before him to explain
the Clinton plan, he smiled on her...Republicans are seething. They know
that a victory on a theme that has occupied them for a generation would
help Democrats in the upcoming election, but they realize outright
opposition would be unthinkable. House Republicans put together an
alternative plan that moves faster and costs more--with funding to come
from cutting off all benefits, including Medicaid for non-citizens. But
William Bennett, the conservative Jeremiah, has gone them one better with
a Draconian scheme for taking away all dole from women who have babies
out of wedlock and sending their babies to orphanages. Such talk makes
Clinton's plan to do what Republicans always said should be done--make
welfare mothers work--seem a model of moderation." (Reducing Reform to
Baby Talk, Mary McGrory, op-ed, Washington Post, 7/19/94)

"To the extent that there has been opposition to President Clinton's
welfare reform proposal, it has come mainly from those arguing that it
isn't tough enough. Now, other voices are being hear, notably that of
Rep. Bob Matsui (D-CA), who worries that Mr. Clinton's proposal to cut
off welfare benefits to those who fail to take jobs after two years would
unjustly punish poor children...Mr. Matsui would build on the Job
Opportunities and Basic Skills program established by the 1988 welfare
reform bill. His measure would increase funding for JOBS--which provides
education and training for welfare recipients--and requires states to
increase the share of their welfare populations involved in the JOBS
program to 50% by 1999. To push the emphasis of JOBS from training to
work, Mr. Matsui would also require that at least half the participants
actually have to be working. When recipients refused work, Mr. Matsui
would also impose a penalty, but a milder one: parents would lose their
own share of the Aid to Families with Dependant Children payment but
would still get the share due to their children. Mr. Matsui asks a fair
question: Given that the 1988 welfare reform has not been given a chance
to work at anything close to full funding, why not push ahead with a
program that has some successes rather than establish a whole new
system?" (Fair Questions on Welfare Reform, editorial, Washington Post,
7/25/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: Here's another one: What guarantees that
the payment given welfare recipients who refuse to work will be spent on
their children and not used to make up the penalty exacted on them?

"The Nurturing Network, a Boise, ID nonprofit runs on the belief that no
woman should think that abortion is her only choice. It provides
practical assistance for such needs as housing, medical care, employment,
finances, adoption counseling, and education...A 50-state network with
more than 18,500 participants--including doctors, employers, and 700
couples who have opened their homes--it has served more than 4,500 women.
...Nurturing Network's founder and director is Mary Cunningham Agee...'We
need a lot less rhetoric and judging,' Agee says. 'We need a lot more
practical compassion.'" (A Pro-Nurturing Alternative to Abortion, Colman
McCarthy, op-ed, Washington Post, 7/26/94)

"Your cover story [Domestic Violence] presented an unbalanced portrayal
of how emergency physicians are dealing with this issue. Approximately
25% of all women seeking treatment in emergency departments suffer from
injuries or symptoms caused by ongoing domestic abuse. Emergency
physicians are often the first, and unfortunately sometimes the last,
person in contact with victims of abuse. As a result, the American
College of Emergency Physicians and it more than 17,000 members have been
on the front lines of the domestic violence issue." --John McCabe, MD,
president, ACEP, Dallas, TX. (Doctors and Domestic Abuse, letter-editor,
McCabe, Washington Post Health, 7/26/94)

"'The Formidable Task of Treating Batterers' may have created a false
pessimism about the effectiveness of treatment. In court-ordered
treatment of 155 spouse abusers in Prince George's County, we have
offered a program based on compassion as an antidote to abuse. It has
created success--75% program completion rate; 87% violence-free and 71%
emotional-abuse free after one year as measured by reports from victims.
...Teaching abusers compassion looms as the only viable answer to
violence and emotional abuse." --Steven Stosny, PhD, director, Community
Outreach Service, Silver Spring, MD. (Doctors and Domestic Abuse, letter-
editor, Stosny, Washington Post Health, 7/26/94)

"A year ago this month, the Family and Medical Leave Act became law...The
measure guarantees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to workers for the
birth or adoption of a child or the illness of a close family
member...Considering the dire predictions of some employers, experience
under the law has been remarkably free of conflict. One reason may be
that not all of the 2.5 million people the General Accounting Office
estimates are eligible to use this benefit are yet aware of their rights.
The fact that many others simply cannot afford to take unpaid leave has
also been a factor...For those who have been able to take advantage of
the law, the benefit is incalculable. Before its passage young mothers
lost jobs when children were born, devoted sons and daughters could not
take time out to care for a dying parent without risking their
employment, and parents were frequently torn between the needs of a sick
child and the obligation to hold onto a job. The law is humane in the
broadest sense, consistent with preservation of family values purportedly
so dear to lawmakers and simply fair to those workers struggling to meet
family needs and willing to give up pay, but not a job to meet them. In
an ideal world the law would apply to all workers, not just those
employed by large companies." (Family Leave: The First Year, editorial,
Washington Post, 8/31/94)

"Few public debates are more riddled with misconceptions and stereotypes
than discussions of poverty and welfare. To hear some of the talk, you'd
think that the welfare system lavishes all sorts of goodies on the poor,
that welfare costs have been shooting through the roof and that the only
category of poor people that matters is single mothers with children.
Wrong on all counts, says an important new study of New York City by the
Citizens Budget Commission, a respected private group not known for
sharpening ideological axes...The commission found that spending on
welfare in New York is going down, not up. Adjusted for inflation,
welfare spending in the city has declined by 20% since 1975. The
inflation-adjusted value of welfare benefits has declined 30%...The
biggest increase on spending for the poor came through the Medicaid
program, and most of the increase went for care for the disabled and the
elderly, not single mothers or their children...What the bromides about
'big government' don't tell you is that big government is increasingly
the result of Big Health Care. Spending on the non-elderly poor is in
fact a modest part of a much larger safety net. Those facts may be
inconvenient to political speechwriters, but they are facts nonetheless."
(Who Are the Poor? editorial, Washington Post, 8/31/94)

                         Food for Thought

"Toss the tacos, bypass that burrito, and just say 'no' to the refried
beans, guacamole, sour cream, and tortilla chips. Ask for the fat-free
salsa instead. The consumer group that attacked the fat in movie popcorn
and in Italian and Chinese meals now warns that most Mexican dishes in
restaurants will saddle you with up to a full day's worth of fat and
sodium, and more than 1,000 calories...'Mexican food is not seen as
health food,' Michael Jacobson, the executive director [of the Center for
Science in the Public Interest] acknowledged at a news conference Monday,
'but I think the numbers will shock anybody who has any concern about
health. Seeing that you're using up three-fourths of your fat intake just
on the side dishes is utterly shocking. It's completely unnecessary,' he
said. Herman Cain, president of the National Restaurant Association, said
the study 'feeds the nation's paranoia about the food system' and 'may be
far worse than serving the nation an extra gram of fat from time to
time.'" (Health Advocacy Group Faults Mexican Restaurant Food,
Martinsburg Journal, 7/19/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, Drop That
Tamale!, Washington Post, 7/19/94.

"People who dramatically reduce their 'bad' cholesterol still run the
risk of heart disease from high levels of fatty acids known as
triglycerides, researchers say.  High cholesterol has been identified as
an artery-clogger and a major contributor to heart attacks. But the role
of triglycerides has been a subject of intense debate...Triglycerides,
which are found in fatty foods and are formed by the body from
carbohydrates, can be reduced through exercise, diet, and drugs...The
study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part
of the National Institutes of Health." (Study Cites Triglycerides' Big
Role in Heart Disease, Washington Post, 7/19/94)

                         Forget the Vet?

The Justice Department has been asked by the Pentagon to investigate
whether POW activists have violated any laws in distributing restricted
battlefield photographs of mutilated war dead. The photos--15 among
thousands brought back from Hanoi in 1992 an 1993 by a civilian acting
for the Defense Intelligence Agency--appeared in the June 17 issue of the
US Veteran Dispatch, a newspaper published by veteran POW-MIA activist
Ted Sampley. They were supplied by the director of the National Vietnam
POW Strike Force, Joe Jordan. The National League of Families of American
Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia issued an alert in June warning
family members the photos might soon become public. One published photo
shows a pilot whose face is charred black except for the part covered by
his oxygen mask. Another Air Force pilot's face and neck appear riddled
with bullet wounds. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Department of
Defense official charged, "Their actions demonstrate a complete lack of
regard for the POW-MIA families. In fact if they have done anything
illegal, we hope to see them prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
(Publication of Gory Photos of Dead GIs Outrages Military, Susan Keating,
Washington Times, 7/8/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: Too bad the DOD and the
government couldn't show the same zeal in determining the fate of our
POWs and MIAs. Sampley cited two reasons for publishing the photos.
"First, they prove the Vietnamese knew the exact fate of MIAs. And
second, the American people are the ones who send men to war; and should
not be prevented from seeing the result of that action, no matter how
painful."

Clinical evaluations of victims of Gulf War Syndrome are being conducted
at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as part of the Comprehensive Clinical
Evaluation Program at military medical centers and treatment facilities
across the globe. Any one of the some 400 persons on the Department of
Defense Gulf War Illness registry or a DOD beneficiary is eligible for
evaluation. Says Col. Raymond Chung, MD, assistant chief of Walter Reed's
infectious disease service, "I think the philosophy is that the medical
system is here to serve the soldier. These soldiers who served in the
Gulf made sacrifices to serve their country. We feel they deserve the
best medical care possible.'" (Center Evaluates Gulf War Illness
Sufferers, Gilda Herrera, Stripe, 7/22/94) CURE Comment: In the case of
my brother, SFC Dwight Appleby, those sacrifices included leaving his
wife and his newborn daughter, their first child, for nearly two years.
CURE believes that his comrades and he and their families--and all vets--
deserve the best that is why we wish it were the philosophy and are
committed to the struggle to make it so.

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense profess
plans to investigate the Gulf War Syndrome over the next five years via
large-scale studies. Scenarios include: randomly surveying Gulf War
veterans regarding fatigue, skin rashes, headaches, and other symptoms
associated with the syndrome; comparing the health of Gulf War vets to
that of soldiers who never went to Saudi Arabia; and examining children
born after the Persian Gulf War for "gross abnormalities" to assess the
genotoxic effects of the war. To date the bulk of information regarding
the Gulf War Syndrome comes from the Persian Gulf Veterans Health
Registry established by the V.A. in August 1992. The registry contains
data on 24,000 men and women. But because participants sign up for it
voluntarily, its entirely self-selected population is discounted as an
unbiased window on the syndrome. Later this year, V.A. epidemiologists
say they'll begin constructing such a window. In the interim, the
Department of Defense is undertaking three major studies: one of Seabees,
one of active-duty servicemen and women, and another of their children.
(Studies Will Frame a Window on Gulf Veterans' Problems, David Brown,
Washington Post, 7/25/94)

"To the dismay of veterans groups, the Clinton administration yesterday
appealed a ruling that reaffirmed veterans have a priority claim on the
shrinking number of government jobs...The ruling upheld [by the Merit
Systems Protection Board] upheld a key provision of the 50-year-old
Veterans Preference Act, which gives former military personnel an edge in
obtaining and retaining federal jobs. 'This is really a hypocritical
decision on the part of the Clinton administration,' said James B.
Hubbard of the American Legion, the nation's largest veterans
organization. The Legion and other veterans groups had lobbied the
administration not to appeal the board's ruling." (Administration Appeals
Ruling on Veterans Preference, Bill McAllister, Washington Post, 7/28/94)

                    Health Care Plans and Pans

"Remember Ross Perot? Skinny bantam with barn-door ears, eight-buck
haircut, and a billion-dollar wallet? Amazingly for a tycoon who was the
Energizer Bunny of politics, Perot has plunged off the 1994 radar screen.
The silence has been eerie, as though a kid next to you on the subway
switched off a boom box...Well, Perotistas, dust off your 'Ross '96
buttons. He's back and baffling as ever. As if health care reform were
not bewildering enough, Perot has thrown his hefty pocketbook into the
donnybrook...The network wouldn't sell him or his United We Stand America
outfit air time. So he called Republican chairman Haley Barbour. Perot:
'I'd like to give Republicans a million dollars for a prime-time hour
telling the truth about the Clinton health plan.' Barbour: 'Gosh, thanks
Ross. I'll get back to you.' No wonder Barbour and fellow Republicans
eyeballed Perot's million-buck offer wariy as a package labeled 'Warning
--Live Rattlesnake Inside.' Before Perot came up with the million-buck
bonanza, Barbour was saying, 'If Perot wants to run [in 1966}, he's our
greatest threat to electing a Republican candidate and sending Clinton
back to Arkansas. So Republicans have to wonder: What's Ross up to this
time?" (Is Perot's Million a Generous Gift or a Trap? Sandy Grady,
Morning Herald, 7/5/94)

"Heard a lot about health care reform lately, America? Brace yourself,
America. The battle lines are sure to sharpen--and the decibel levels
rise--as all sides launch a final all-out offensive to wring their
particular kind of health reform out of Congress this year. The White
House and its allies are poised to unleash busloads of 'reform riders,'
celebrity salesmen, waves of advertising, and the powerful one-two punch
of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The opposition will respond with
equal vigor and resources after a orchestrating a highly successful early
attack on the original Clinton plan. The battle for popular opinion is
'going to make NAFTA look like a joke,' predicted one White House
official, recalling the hard-fought campaign over the North American Free
Trade Agreement...The centerpiece of the summer campaign on the Clinton's
behalf will be a privately organized $2 million bus tour beginning in
late July dubbed the 'Health Security Express.'" (White House Ready to
Push Hard for Health Care Reform, Morning Herald, 7/5/94)

"Three years ago, this was the heartland of health reform. Little-known
Democrat Harris Wofford, a scholarly ex-college administrator, put the
issue squarely on the national map with a stunning US Senate upset built
on a novel theme: 'If criminals have a right to a lawyer, working
Americans have a right to a doctor.' But oh, what a difference three
years makes. Give them some details, the potential costs, and a glimpse
of the partisan battle brewing in Washington, and many Pennsylvanians are
greeting the health reform debate with ambivalence and dread...This could
be bad news for Democrats bent on passing a comprehensive plan this year.
And it could be good news for Rep. Rick Santorum, who's running an
aggressive campaign against Wofford this year...In three polls of voters,
Millersville University political scientist Terry Madonna founds jobs and
crime dwarf health care. Of health care, he says, 'I don't think that
there's any sense that they want to completely rip up the current system.
They want it patched up.'" (Winds Shift in Health Care Heartland, Richard
Wolf, USA Today, 7/8/94)

"President Bill Clinton's proposal for health care is now undergoing the
usual metamorphosis that Gov. Bill Clinton's reforms went through in
Arkansas: After a lot of grand proposing, what emerges is an innocuous
compromise that reforms little, but represents a consensus of the most
powerful interests involved. It happened here in Arkansas time and time
again, whether the subject was the environment, civil rights, tax reform,
school consolidation, you-name-it. To quote one Clinton-watcher who has
watched this process too many times, 'He'll start almost any well-
intentioned program, then go off to leave it to twist in the wind.'
Result: Still another murky retreat will be hailed as still another grand
advance." --Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor, Arkansas Democrat
Gazette. (Like the Recipe for Making Sausages, Greenberg, op-ed,
Washington Times, 7/12/94)

"Over the years, the US Congress has developed a nasty habit of passing
laws that apply to everyone except the people who pass them. To this day,
our legislators uphold a double standard that frees them from their own
laws...And this summer, if no one notices, they may devise a health care
policy that leaves them equally untouched. Someone has to tell these
folks that what's good for the governed is good for the governors. Allow
me to present a modest proposal...Members of Congress already have
universal health coverage. One hundred percent of 100 Senators are
eligible to join the federal health care alliance which allows them to
choose between plans and doctors. Only one reform proposal--Sen. Ted
Kennedy's--offers Congress' plan as one of our choices. Under my
proposal, however, senators who are willing to settle for the 95%
solution for us must also apply it to themselves. Before voting against a
universal plan, they will be required to present the names of 5
colleagues--exactly 5%--who will immediately lose coverage." (If Senators
Lived Like Us, Ellen Goodman, op-ed, Washington Post, 7/15/94)

"White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers recently said that President
Clinton will sign a health care bill if it provides 'universal coverage'
by a 'date certain.' Asked what fraction of Americans would have to be
included before coverage qualified as 'universal,' she replied, 'We're
just not going to talk numbers.' I don't want to pick nits, but I had
always thought the word 'universal' WAS a number--specifically, 100% as
in '100% of Americans.' Ms. Myers doesn't appear to be freelancing here.
There are other signs that President Clinton is hastily installing an
escape hatch in his famous threat to veto any health care bill lacking
universal coverage. The New York Times recently quoted an anonymous
official as saying Mrs. Clinton is willing to compromise on the issue
because 'she doesn't want to blow her husband's presidency after two
years in office. And face it, that's what this is.'" (Why Clinton Can't
Afford to Wimp Out on Health Care, Robert Wright, op-ed, BS, 7/15/94)

"The Clinton administration, taking a more combative tone on health care
reform, is trying to isolate its Republican critics and claim some middle
ground for itself in bargaining for votes in Congress. Reinforcing that
theme, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell [D-ME] yesterday warned
governors meeting in Boston that if major health reform isn't passed this
year, Congress next year may settle for a narrower package of GOP-favored
spending caps that could have a 'devastating' effect on state budgets.
Leon Panetta, the new White House chief of staff, yesterday chided
Democrats to remember 'we're in the middle of a fight.' He lashed out at
Senate Republican Leader Robert Dole, saying the Kansas Republican is
overcome by his own political ambitions and 'operating at his worst.'"
(White House Seeks to Isolate GOP Critics, Claim Middle Ground in Health
Debate, David Rogers and George Anders, Wall Street Journal, 7/18/94)

"The health care battle lines of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
were sharply drawn by late April: It was 'Big John' vs. the purveyors of
pizza and greeting cards. One vote shy of passing President Clinton's
plan to insure every American, Chairman John D. Dingell (D-MI), a
prodigiously persuasive man, looked down the line of undecided Democrats
and seized on his old protege from Kansas--Rep. Jim Slattery. But
Slattery had other suitors. He is running for governor, and two of his
state's biggest employers--Hallmark Cards and Pizza Hut--oppose a central
tenet of Clinton's bill that calls on firms to pay for their workers'
insurance. Fearing the impact...Pizza Hut's parent firm and Hallmark sent
representatives to lobby the lawmaker on April 21. When Slattery entered
the meeting, he carried with him a plan that contained provisions for
inducing employers to pay. When Slattery came out, he dropped the
inducements from his plan as well as any obligation for employers...The
decision dashed Dingell's hope of finding middle ground with Slattery,
whom he counted the last moderate Democrat out of the fold...Unable to
pass a strong bill, he officially gave up the task on June 28--and with
it his own cherished career goal." (Delivering a Defeat for Total
Coverage, Michael Weisskopf, Washington Post, 7/19/94)

"Democratic governors, seeking to give President Clinton a boost before
he speaks here on Tuesday, today urged Congress to pass legislation
providing health insurance to all Americans but failed to support the
'employer mandates' Clinton says are needed to pay for it...[And] nowhere
did they use the words 'universal coverage,' the watchwords of Clinton
and the White House, in describing their goal. At the same time, even the
Democratic governors could not muster the votes within their own caucus
to endorse employer mandates--requirements that businesses pay a
substantial portion of their employees' health insurance costs...As New
Mexico Gov. Bruce King (D) explained, 'These mandates get a little hard
to defend.' The Democrats' resolution was tame compared with some of the
partisan language coming out of the White House...Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G.
Thompson (R) said that by the time the president arrives, the governors
will have decided what they want to do. 'It's a poor move on Clinton's
part to be here on Tuesday,' Thompson said. 'It will all be done by the
time he gets here.'" (Governors Shy From Employer Mandates, Dan Balz and
David Broder, Washington Post, 7/19/94)

Speaking before the National Governors Association, President Clinton
conceded that health insurance for 95% of Americans would satisfy his
promised goal of universal coverage. Clinton also admitted that he was
not wedded to the employer mandate, another contested feature of his
health reform plan. The remarks sent White House spin doctors into orbit
as they attempted to convince lawmakers and the public that the president
was not signalling a change in policy. Reaction was swift on Capitol
Hill. "The president is an accommodating person ," said the chairman of
the House Ways and Means subcommittee on health, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA).
"But if there is [a bill] without universal coverage, I would leave and a
lot of liberal members would say no." Stark's prediction was given added
credibility by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), who warned, "He just put in
jeopardy all the single-payer votes." Speaking on Good Morning America,
Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed to up the pressure on her husband,
declaring, "If you leave millions of people out...you will always have
the costs being increased because they can be shifted on to someone
else." (President Signals Health Flexibility, Ann Devroy, WP, 7/20/94)

"A good health care reform bill can still be salvaged in this Congress.
It won't solve all the nation's health care problems. and yes, it will
miss some opportunities and leave some people out--but many fewer than
are left out now. There's time, and there may be the votes as well to
write a bill that would represent a major advance of which the president
and Congress--both parties--could be proud. The elements would include
insurance market reform, which is the catch phrase for what would amount
to a federal regulatory takeover of the insurance market. The goal would
be, if not quite to eliminate, then to limit the use of various practices
whereby the industry currently tries to avoid insuring the very people
who need insurance the most--the sick...A workable plan will also require
subsidies. No matter how well risk is spread, a lot of people now
uninsured won't be able to afford the premiums. The subsidies need to be
generous enough to matter, and solidly financed lest they drive up the
deficit." (A Good Health Care Bill, editorial, Washington Post, 7/26/94)

"With the political spotlight locked on the question of universal
coverage, the other major goal of health reform--controlling spiraling
medical costs--has either been ignored or undermined. 'Cost containment
has been fading from the debate like the Cheshire cat,' said Henry Aaron,
the Brookings Institution health policy expert..."let's face it, you
don't see any cost-containment buses rolling across the country,' said
Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., staff director of the Senate Finance Committee,
one of four congressional committees that has reported a health reform
bill. Perhaps, we shouldn't be surprised. After all, says Robert D.
Reischauer, director of the Congressional Budget Office, 'cost
containment hurts while expanding access makes people happy.'"
(Containing Spiraling Medical Costs Isn't Popular Topic With Reformers,
Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post, 7/27/94) CURE Comment: Watch what
they do, not what they say. The Health Security Express IS a cost-
containment (i.e., care-cutting) bus even if those being taken for a ride
don't realize it. As Pearlstein admits, "There are two general approaches
to restraining health care costs and spending...The first approach, known
as managed competition, relies on...insurance companies to hold down
total spending...The second approach uses various forms of government
controls." Both are alive and well, which is more than we can say for
their victims.

"The American people are in for a rude awakening in the debate to reform
our health care system. Congress has closed the doors on the public.
Negotiations that will affect the health care of every American are being
held in secret, away from the media spotlight and the public's eyes, as a
final proposal is prepared. On July 2, 1994, the Senate Finance Committee
voted on and passed a health care reform bill. The Washington Post
declared in a front page story on July 3 that the work of the Senate
Finance Committee was complete; yet I call on the reporter and others who
heralded this action to get a copy of the bill. There is no bill. There
are no amendments. There are no details. No one knows what the costs will
be. On July 12, some 10 days after the bill's supposed passage, a 21-page
press summary of the 'bill' was released that raises more questions than
it provides answers. A member of the committee stated, 'We didn't vote on
a bill. We passed out of the Committee a bunch of ideas.' This is
stunning. What American would make a major purchase, such as a house or
car, sight unseen, without knowing the cost of the purchase, the
warranty, or conditions of the sale? The answer is no one. Yet this is
precisely what has taken place in the US Senate." --Sen. Paul Coverdell
(R-GA). (The Democrats' Mystery Health Care Legislation, Coverdell, op-
ed, Washington Times, 7/28/94)

"On health care, the middle-of-the-roaders in Congress are about to be
put to the test. The question is whether they are willing to vote for the
funds required to make health plans they favor work...That's where the
easy agreement among the Republicans and Democrats breaks down. They
don't want to pay. It's not a new problem. George Bush came out with a
fairly respectable middle-of-the-road health care plan in 1992. The only
thing he left out was the funding; the fear was that someone might accuse
him of proposing a t-x. Bob Dole has now proposed a minimalist plan along
much the same lines, but his, in deference to the same party pressure not
to tax, contains no serious funding either...Rep. Jim Cooper put forth
another middle-of-the-road proposal earlier this year. The Congressional
Budget Office said it would likely founder for lack of funds...Moderates
say the health care system ought to be restructured cautiously, and they
are right. But it can't be restructured without paying the price. The
people who want to change the system but keep the Clinton proposal at bay
need to put the necessary money where their plans are." (The Test for the
Center-Stripers, Washington Post, 7/28/94)

"White House officials, surveying the battleground of health care reform,
are beginning to suspect that President Clinton's top legislative
priority of 1994 may be the victim of his own good fortune in presiding
over an improving US economy. 'What you see in the polling data,' a
senior presidential adviser said yesterday, 'is that people are less
afraid of losing their jobs--and with them their health insurance. So
their concern about health care is less.'...Last September, when Clinton
introduced his health care plan, 56% of those polled by The Washington
Post and ABC News approved of it; only 24% disapproved. By this June,
opposition had grown to 53%, and support was down to 52%. In that same
span of time, the consumer confidence index...rose from 63.8% to 91.6%.
The 28-point increase looks suspiciously like the 29-point jump in
opposition to the Clinton health plan. White House senior officials are
using these figures to explain the political problems facing the
administration's health initiative on Capitol Hill." (Health Reform
Pressure Drops as Economy Rises, David Broder, Washington Post, 8/11/94)
CURE Comment: The spin doctors have outdone themselves...of course, we
couldn't expect them to admit that the MORE the American people learn
about the Clinton health scheme, the LESS they like it.

                         Heart Stoppers

"It has been three months since Kurt Cobain took a shotgun and blew his
life away. Now Randi Hubbard is trying in her own way to bring him home.
Inside her husband's muffler shop, this truck driver turned sculptor
spends her afternoon building a concrete statue of Aberdeen [WA]'s famous
native son. 'I think we all have a little Kurt Cobain in us. We've all
been on the edge possibly,' said Hubbard...The rock star's grandfather
often drives from nearby Montesano to watch the sculpture's progress.
Young fans of the grunge-rock group Nirvana, of which Cobain was lead
singer, have written poems and left other memorabilia to offer
inspiration. Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, has reportedly offered to
bring plaster molds of his hands to help complete the sculpture. But
while the 600-pound, 5-foot-6 statue has drawn rave reviews from some, it
has struck a raw nerve in Cobain's hometown. Some city leaders and
residents aren't comfortable paying tribute to a man whose life became
synonymous with drug abuse and despair...As Gary Morean, a local attorney
and former Grays Harbor Chamber of Commerce president, put it: 'There are
lots of people who deserve to be honored...(but) there's a difference
between being famous and being infamous. Cobain, 27, was found dead April
8 in his million-dollar Seattle home. He had traces of heroin in his
bloodstream when he apparently committed suicide. Morean is among those
who worry that a city-sponsored memorial would send the wrong message to
children about Cobain's freewheeling lifestyle. Others resent the way his
hometown has been portrayed by the media--as a hard-bitten community of
rednecks--and the implication that it was somehow to blame for his
suicide. 'When he was famous he was from Seattle. As soon as he kills
himself, he's that messed-up kid from Aberdeen,' Morean said...One
potential site, Zelaso Park, seemed optimum because it's near a downtown
tavern where Cobain used to play. That got nixed, however, when veterans
thought it would detract from the statue of a World War I soldier."
(Cobain Statue Has Washington Town Split Down the Middle, Barbara
Serrano, Morning Herald, 7/8/94)

"When her burden of sorrows finally grew unbearable, Nicole George put a
gun to her head and killer herself. But the teenage rape victim's suicide
had a cruel twist: It liberated her alleged attacker. Without George's
testimony, the district attorney's office decided last week it will no
longer pursue the three-year-old case against 37-year old Frederick
Bailey. Today, Bailey is free, prosecutors are frustrated, and George's
family is devastated...When visiting her grandmother in a Harlem housing
project where Bailey also lived, George, then 14, was grabbed from
behind, dragged into a stairwell, and raped at knifepoint, authorities
said. George told detectives Bailey was the attacker...Justice stalled
when psychiatrists decided Bailey was insane. Late last month, after
spending nearly three years in a mental hospital on Wards Island, he was
declared fit to stand trial. It was far too late for George. Following
the rape and the recent deaths of her mother from pneumonia and her
father from cancer, she was forced to move out of her family's home in
the Bronx and in with her grandmother in Harlem. Losing her parents,
living near the scene of the crime, and fearing that Bailey may someday
find her there again were all too much, her grandparents said. On April
13, the grandmother found George's body on the blood-soaked bed...She was
17. The rape case died with the victim." (Teen's Suicide Liberates Rape
Suspect, Martinsburg Journal, 7/20/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: I once
worked at Manhattan State Hospital on Wards Island as an assistant
teacher. My heart grieves for Nicole whose victimization did not end with
her violation. May a compassionate God have mercy on her soul and a just
God impose justice on her victimizers.

                         Home Rx

"At a time when most of the momentum around health care reform seems to
be directed toward slowing down and trimming back the costs of the new
insurance program, a consensus is quietly building for one expensive new
benefit. Home health care coverage for the elderly and disabled, which
only recently seemed like a luxury Congress could not afford, is now
given a reasonable chance of being included in some form of the version
of the health care bill that comes up for a final vote this fall...All
bets are off though, if Congress rejects a comprehensive overhaul of
America's health care system as proposed by Clinton, and chooses instead
a minor program of insurance-market changes, such as the alternative
recommended by Senate Republican leader Bob Dole (R-KS)...At present,
there is no Medicare coverage and little private insurance for home
health care. Influential lobbies are pushing hard for this benefit, which
would help with the costs of adult day care, home health care aides, and
medical equipment...But the size and the extent of the home health care
program that survives remains a question that depends on how much money
Congress is willing to raise through new taxes or cut from Medicare and
Medicaid programs...Clinton's proposal to require employers to help pay
for their workers' health care benefits would provide the financial
underpinnings...Supporters argue that it is vital. But it is also the
most controversial aspect of his bill, and is particularly unpopular in
the Senate." (Reform May Include Home Health Care for the Elderly, Karen
Hosler, Baltimore Sun, 7/23/94)

                         Lyme Light

With warm weather comes campers and hikers and bloodsucking mites--no
bigger than sesame seeds--that may carry a potentially serious infection:
Lyme disease. But health officials say you can reduce the risk of
contracting the potentially debilitating disease by using their common
sense and taking prudent precautions. A bacterial infection caused by the
spiral-shaped microorganism spirochete, Lyme disease can lead to
arthritis, heart rhythm irregularities, and facial paralysis.
Neurological disorders like meningitis are also linked to Lyme disease.
(Lyme Disease Risk Increases in the Heat, Morning Herald, 7/5/94)

                         Medicine Chest

"Early last year the administration made an incautious proposal with
regard to immunizations that it wasn't prepared to defend. The idea was
that the government would buy up enough vaccine to immunize free all the
children in the country regardless of income. The advocates saw it not
just as a way of achieving broader immunization, a goal that just about
everyone shares. Some thought it might also serve as an opening wedge in
establishing the notion that children (if not all Americans) should
receive health care as a matter of right. The pharmaceutical industry,
even then being charged by the administration with price gouging, took a
predictably different view. It saw...the proposal as a first step toward
price controls if not a kind of nationalization. The administration had
laid no groundwork for its proposal, wasn't prepared to stick up for it
and quickly backed off. What it got through Congress instead...was still
a substantial advance: a sensible, conventional program to close the
immunization gap by making free vaccine available to children who are on
Medicaid or uninsured or whose insurance doesn't cover immunization. Now
much the same thing is happening again, this time with regard to the
method of distributing the authorized vaccine. The administration decided
...that rather than pay the drug companies to distribute the vaccine in
the states, where there wasn't already a distribution system, the
government would do so itself. It began to setup a warehouse for this
purpose. Critics in Congress said that was the wrong way to proceed...and
again the administration...has had to back down...Only 55% of the
children in this country are fully immunized (though many more are partly
so)...They ought to get on with it and keep it simple." (The Immunization
Program, editorial, Washington Post, 8/29/94)

                         Mental Health Memo

"Nearly seven months after the Chuck E. Cheese massacre in Aurora, CO,
relatives of the four employees gunned down in the pizza restaurant face
a nightmare of judicial delays...Nathan Dunlap, 20, the fired employee
accused of carrying out the mass murders shortly after closing time
December 14, has been in the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblos
since February 18. Arapahoe County District Judge Michael Bieda ordered
him sent to the Pueblo hospital after Mr. Dunlap's mother told the judge
her son had grown incoherent during his incarceration at the Arapahoe
County Jail. Mr. Dunlap is being examined to determine whether he's
competent to stand trial...A note of frustration is evident in the few
comments Aurora police Division Chief Mike Stiers can make without
breaking a court-imposed gag order. 'Obviously, stalling is a tactic that
has been used many times to deaden society's anger with a certain crime,'
Chief Stiers said...A competency exam can usually be accomplished in
short order, said Dr. Frederick Miller, a Denver forensic psychiatrist.
...A competency evaluation would involve an interview, psychological
testing, and possible brain imaging, he said. 'You might be looking for
an injury, you might be looking for a seizure disorder, you might be
looking for any other brain disease.' Circumstances that would prolong
the process could include a disagreement between doctors about
'malingering'--feigning symptoms of a disease." (Justice Painfully Slow
for Victims' Families, Charlie Brennan, Washington Times, 7/5/94)

"Coping with life became increasingly difficult for Marian Evans. The 56-
year-old Chambersburg, PA resident was drowning in what she calls the
foggy depths of her psyche. It was more than she could handle, Evans told
her psychiatrist 'He said, 'I think you should be going to a partial.''
He was referring to partial hospitalization, a mental health program for
patients who don't require residential care but need more than just an
occasional visit with the therapist...'It's the trend in mental health
care right now,' says Mike Shea, director of mental health services for
Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown [MD}...It's popular because
insurance companies reluctant to cover extended residential care
presumably will pay for the partial hospitalization , says Pat Hanberry,
executive director of Cumberland Valley Mental Health Center in
Chambersburg." (Helping People Cope, Lisa Prejean, Herald-Mail, 7/8/94)

"Closing arguments begin today over criminal responsibility by Larry
Allen Breeden in the death of Shirley Elizabeth Baker...Breeden, 50, has
admitted second-degree murder but contends he was not criminally
responsible when he strangled Mrs. Baker in February 1988. If successful
on the sanity issue, Breeden would be committed to a state mental
institution for treatment...Twice before, Washington County [MD] Circuit
Court has found Breeden understood his actions and imposed 25-year prison
terms. Both times the decision was set aside by appellate court...
Forensic psychiatrist Faramarz Mohktari...attributed Breeden's bizarre
11-year mental history to alcohol abuse and depression with a personality
disorder. He rejected a clinical history offered by defense medical
experts that points toward psychotic and delusional paranoid
schizophrenia...Dr. Mohktari said he was convinced Breeden knew and had
admitted he had done wrong and therefore was responsible under Maryland
law. He told Judge John H. McDowell that Breeden is a malingerer, one who
manipulates mental health care providers into believing that his illness
was more than it really is." (State Psychiatrist Testifies Breeden
Responsible, Frederick Post, 7/14/94)

"Legislators in a massive rewrite of the state's penal code,
unintentionally eliminated laws that a year ago were described as the
toughest in the nation protecting mental patients. Other laws advocated
by special interest groups were also dropped...When the new code takes
effect September 1...the rewritten penal code will sweep away an array of
new criminal penalties targeted at private psychiatric hospital abuse and
insurance fraud. The psychiatric reform laws were adopted after more than
six months of state Senate committee hearings and testimony from hundreds
of patients at former for-profit psychiatric hospitals...Beginning
September 1, at least three psychiatric-reform laws will disappear only a
year after they took effect. The laws target insurance claim fraud,
require that misconduct in the mental health field be reported, and make
it a felony for psychiatrists, nurses, or therapists to have sexual
relations with their patients...Robert Andrews, a Fort Worth attorney who
has represented psychiatric patients, said state prosecutors shoul feel
embarrassed. 'If they don't need the special laws, then why aren't there
ongoing prosecutions of the doctors and other health care professionals
who defrauded and abused their patients in Texas' private psychiatric
hospita;s?' he asked...In late June, National Medical Enterprises Inc. of
Santa Monica, CA, tentatively agreed to pay $363 million to settle
federal civil and criminal charges of health care fraud throughout the
state." (Rewritten Laws Gut Mental Patients' Protection in Texas, Mark
Smith, Washington Times, 7/28/94)

                         Public Health

"The 28-year-old son of Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders was convicted
Monday of selling $275 worth of cocaine to an undercover officer last
summer. Deputy Prosecutor Chris Palmer said he will ask that Kevin Elders
be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison at Elders' August 29
sentencing hearing. He could be sentenced to as much as life in prison.
...Elders claimed an acquaintance who set up the drug deal had threatened
to expose his drug habit and embarrass his mother during her Senate
confirmation hearings unless Elders obtained cocaine for him. The surgeon
general testified briefly that she and her family had been subjected to
open opposition from the time she was nominated for the job by President
Clinton." (Surgeon General's Son Is Convicted of Selling Cocaine,
Martinsburg Journal, 7/19/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, Elder's
Son Convicted in Cocaine Case, Washington Post, 7/19/94.

                         The Whole Tooth

"In one generation, dental prevention has become a major American health
care success story. The reason? An emphasis on regular dental care, with
the ease of access offered by dental benefits. Today, some 95 million
American workers and families have those benefits. But many of the health
care reform proposals now before Congress would require employers or
employees to pay taxes on benefits not in the basic core package. That
could make dental coverage unaffordable, and 30 years' dramatic
improvement in oral health could be reversed overnight." (They Call It
Health Care Reform--But Some in Congress Want to Tax Away America's
Dental Benefits, ad, Delta Dental, Washington Post, 7/28/94) CURE
Comment: CURE opposes the taxing of health insurance benefits. According
to Hewitt Associates, 37% of employers would drop dental coverage if
taxed, while another 47% aren't sure they would keep it.

                         Telling Headlines

Abortion Becomes Local Issue, Washington Post, 8/11
Agriculture Department Launches Safe Hamburger Campaign, Strpe, 7/15
Americans Want Crime Bill Before Health Care, Martinsburg Journal, 7/14
Among New Doctors Are Real-Wold Grads, Washington Times, 6/6
Anything's Possible for Those With 'Gump'tion, Pentagram, 7/15
Army Intends to Enforce Smoking Restrictions, Pentagram, 7/15
Blazing Mental Health Disorders, Washington Times, 6/22
Budapest's Jews Barely Escaped Destruction in '45, WT, 7/5
Caperton Health Care Commission Useless Waste of Taxpayer Money, MJ, 7/27
Clinton's Health Plan Won't Hurt Business, Herald-Mail, 7/3
Clinton Presses Hispanics on Health Reform, Washington Post, 7/19
Croation-Run Death Site Remains Dark Secret, Washington Times, 7/5
Culture Collision on the Comic Pages, Washington Times, 6/24
Delta Extinguishes Smoking on Flights Abroad, USA Today, 8/26
Democrats Try to Close Health Divide, J. Jennings Moss, WT, 7/13
Easing of Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes Is Proposed, WP, 7/14
Employer Mandates Will COst Many Americans Their Jobs, WT, 6/22
Foes Boycott Drugs Over Abortion Issue, Morning Herald, 7/8
'Forrest Gump' Author Enjoyed Watching Hanks, Morning Herald, 7/8
Gephardt Hints at Health Care Hurdles, USA Today, 7/26
Governors Meeting Sets Stage for Clinton, Dole Showdown, MJ, 7/19
Gulf War Illness Is Still a Mystery, Washington Times, 6/24
Health Care and Abortion, Washington Post, 7/28
Hitler Army Deserters Seek 'Resisters' Status, Martinsburg Journal, 7/19
Kevorkian's Assisted Suicide Drive Apparently Falls Short, MH, 7/6
Moderates Drafting Rival Health Measure, Washington Times, 7/28
Mother's Slap Not a Hit with Georgia Police, USA Today, 6/27
Neo-Nazis Rampage at Buchenwald, Washington Post, 7/25
New GAO Report Faults Rigid Entitlement Caps, Washington Post, 7/20
NIH Boosts French Share of AIDS-Kit Royalties, Washington Times, 7/12
Nurses Earn Congressional Research Grants, Stripe, 7/15
Officials Seek Alternative to Ambulance Service Fee, MJ, 8/25
Panzers Roll Through Paris--as Guests, Baltimore Sun, 7/15
Runyon Reverses Veterans Jobs Stand, Washington Post, 8/11
Secretary of Defense Calls Health Care 'A Sacred Trust,' Stripe, 7/22
Senate Rejects Proposal for Delay on Health Bill Votes, WP, 8/11
State Awards Doctor $1 Million in Damages, Martinsburg Journal, 7/19
Study: Small-Headed People More Likely to Get Alzheimer's, WS, 7/23
Suing Tobacco Firms by States Said to Be Not Worth the Effort, WT, 7/13
The Propaganda About Tobacco Farmers, let-ed, Washington Post, 7/14
Welfare Overhaul Prospects Brighten, Washington Post, 7/14
WV Worker's Comp Needs Firm Guidelines, ed, Martinsburg Journal, 7/26

                    Wish We'd Said That...

     The main problem with Mr. Clinton's image isn't a perceived
     failure to get things done. It's a perceived willingness to do
     ANYTHING to get something done--sacrifice any principle, cave
     in to any interest group. (Robert Wright, New Republic)

                    ...Glad We Didn't

     Cost containment is clearly the most important issue, and it's
     pretty much been lost in the shuffle. (Sen. John Danforth, R-MO)

                         We Did Say It...

     Just another reason we look forward to Danforth's retirement
     from the Senate at year's end. Why not an early retirement,
     John? (Earl Appleby, Jr., CURE)

  Of Note is published biweekly by ABLEnews, a Fidonet-backbone echo
  featuring disability/medical news and information. ABLEnews is
  carried by more than 340 BBS's in the US, Canada, Australia, Great
  Britain, Greece, New  Zealand, and Sweden. The echo, available from
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  ABLEnews text files--including our digests: Of Note and Mednotes
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...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley
Springs, West Virginia 254511 (304-258-LIFE/5433).