THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Chance of showers High in low 90s
KANSAN
The University of Kansas
Tuesday June 27,1978
Vol. 88, No.156
Lawrence, Kansas
Carter thinks of breaking health insurance promise
WASHINGTON (AP) - The peril of inflation is causing President Jimmy Carter to put off the national health insurance he promised on the nation.
Carter said at his press conference yesterday that it might take many years before environmental conditions permitted full operation of the plant, but promised during his election campaign.
But Carter said he would give his secretary of health, education and welfare instructions within the next few days to comply with principles that he outlined to the secretary, Joseph Califano Jr., in the preparation of a national health plan.
White House aides had been saying for several weeks that those principles would be forthcoming soon. But sources reported just before Carter's press conference that in the wake of his interview he tore down, even break, what was one of his key car pledge盔s.
ON MAY 22, Califano asked Carter to choose either a narrow health plan to help only the nation's neediest or a broad package to guarantee care. He wrote that his comments on Carter's desk and his comments yesterday did not make it clear which he would choose.
"I do favor a comprehensive health proposal," he said. "Now, at this time, the high inflation rate and the very tight budget constraints would not permit immediate action."
See related story page two.
Before the press conference, White House sources announce whether Carter will be allowed to visit Florida.
When Califano sent his memorandum asking for Carter's decision, backers thought it was simply a formality. As far as they were concerned, Carter had made his choice six months before he was elected governor and comprehensive health care program.
AFTER HE was elected, Carter said he would send national health insurance legislation to Congress early this year. None has been sent.
"We thought we were very close," another administration source, who asked not to be identified, said. "But the threshold decision still has not been made. There has been some definite backtracking."
The principal objections to Carter's programs are from Carter's economic policies.
the inflationary spending that national health insurance would bring. The cost of living already has been rising this year at an annual rate of about 10 percent.
Camano estimates that even the narrow health proposal would cost $15 billion to $27 billion in new government outlays, or about $140 a year for every taxpayer.
A broader plan to guarantee everyone a basic benefit package would cost about twice as much, or $4 billion a year, in addition to the $87 billion already being spent on Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs.
Prisoners released by diplomatic trade
The broad program would not provide coverage for drugs, dental services, mental health care, preventive attention or long-term care.
MOST INDIVIDUALS and employers already pay a substantial amount for private health insurance, which does not necessarily include those options either.
The trade became known while President Jimmy Carter was telling a press conference, against a backdrop of tension, "We want to be friends with the Soviets."
WASHINGTON (AP)—Two Russians charged with espionage were released from a U.S. jail yesterday in a trade for the alleged insurgent U.S. businessman hold in a Moscow prison.
Any program would face a fight in congress, where other national health institutions were involved.
The Russians, employees of the United Nations, were released after a hearing before a federal judge in Newark, N.J., and placed in custody of Soviet Ambassador Dobrynyi.
THE AMERICAN, Francis J. Crawford, a representative of the International Harvester Co. in Moscow, has been in Moscow's Williams dugged him from his car June 12.
Crawford, a 38-year-old businessman and native of Mobile, was accused of stealing $14 million.
A federal prosecutor said Dobrynin had assured Cyrus R. Vance, secretary of state, that the Russians would appear at court sessions on their case.
False alarms could be costly at city hospital
Sensitive fire alarms at Lawrence Memorial Hospital have caused an excessive number of false alarms, Clarence Hess, director of maintenance, said yesterday.
The hospital has exceeded the annual limit of tazarine, under city ordinance, and has been declared a state-of-the-art facility.
The fire department has answered 10 calls to the department year. The limit, without any charge, is 10 years.
To solve the problem, the too sensitive ionized smoke detectors have been replaced with a more sensitive detector.
HESS SAID some of the false alarms had been caused by people smoking in waiting
Obrish, a secretary and archivist at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, reported after a visit last week that he was thin and exhausted.
Olbriach, who was with Crawford when he was arrested, said Soviet police took him from his car when he stopped for a traffic light on the way to a party.
The Soviet news agency Tass later charged that Crawford had systematically sold to individual defendants the currency at speculative prices, which is a crime under Soviet law. Tass also said criminal proceedings were made against citizens who were Crawford's 'accomplices.'
"The other night an alarm went off in the waiting room of the emergency ward," he said. "The people were nervous and smoked and that was a problem area."
Hess said 10 smoke detectors already had been replaced in problem areas.
The cost of answering false alarms is about $30.47 a minute, according to Brent McFall, administrative aide to the Lawrence city manager.
McFall said that the false alarm estimate was not definite but that a decision on the charges against the hospital would be made tomorrow.
Another problem area is the back dock area near the incinerator.
To reach the estimate, the fire department budget was divided by the number of runs annually. That figure was then divided by the average length of time for each run
"they had two runs beyond the limit, 21 and eight minutes long," he said. "If we were to charge $30 per minute, that would be substantial."
John Trattner, a State Department spokesman, said that Crawford was being released under the same conditions as the two Russians and that he was being placed in the custody of U.S. Ambassador Malcolm Toon in Moscow.
1 the charge for 29 minutes on a false alarm, at the $0.47 rate, would be $833.63.
Hess said that although the number of
users was excessive, the system was
not malicious.
U. S. Judge Judge Frederick B. Lacey released the Russians after suspending the requirement that they post $2 million bond each. Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromky had personally complained to Vance about the unusually high bond.
EVEN THOUGH both of the Russians, Valdik Alexandrovich Enger and Rudolph Petrovitch Chernayyev, and Crawford are still charged with crimes and face the prospect of trials; their parallel releases could be viewed as acts of diplomatic good
“Universal, mandatory and comprehensive” means that everyone must be provided basic protection against the costs of sickness, hospitalization, operations and such preventive care as regular check-ups and Pam smears.
"It's doing what it was designed to do," he said. "It's a sensitive system."
Although benefits could be expanded, the choices Califano gave Carter May 22 were either a universal, mandatory and comprehensive program and something far short of that, which Califano called a target approach.
The arrests of the two Russians and of Crawford, who all denied charges against them, had heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington.
The target approach, he said, would cover catastrophic health costs, such as those incurred by long hospitalization beyond the coverage of most private health insurance plans. He estimates that 88 million Americans have no protection against a catastrophic illness.
The limited plan also would provide basic coverage for an estimated nine million poor people who do not qualify for Medicare and therefore do not qualify for Medicaid.
THE TARGET PLAN would not be universal. About 30 million people in the country—half of them earning more than $10,000 a year—would be left with inadequate health insurance, according to administration estimates.
Another shortcoming of the target approach, Califano said, is that it would perpetuate a system from others. The best care would continue to be given those who could afford private insurance or could pay their employer to cover the cost, said the poor would have to by with less.
The broader proposal, the one most planners thought Carter would announce last month, would establish a government-to-guarantee coverage for everyone.
- private insurance companies probably would help administer the plan as they now help with Medicare. They could compete better. In fact, if they could offer better, cheaper coverage.
The government, however, would set
standard for service and decide
what policies to be best helped by.
The broader plan, if approved, probably be funded as a combination of income and capital.
Staff Photo by TRISH LEWIS
After purchasing his trumpet from a Lawrenceee pawn shop, Michael Mumiord spent the afternoon in South Park practicing. At the price of $25, Mumiord said, he could not resist buying the trumpet.
Park practice
The commissioners agreed to include construction of the road bed, drainage ditches and bridges in bids to be let before Oct. 1, 2015. The commissioners funded federal funds designated for the project.
Commissioners set up schedule for parkway job
The $9 million to $10 million four-mile parkway was designed to be the main link between Dallas and Fort Worth.
City and county commissioners decided on items to be included in the first phase of construction for the Clinton Parkway project in a joint meeting yesterday.
The second phase of the project will include surfacing of the road and construction of curbs, gutters and access cuts along the parkway.
e federal funds will finance 70 percent of the remainder. The remainder will be split between the two banks.
PLANS CALL for the parkway, extending from the intersection of 23rd and Iowa streets to a point just north of the dam, to be connected via road known by a bicycle path alongside.
The acquisition of right-of-way for the project is miring completion, according to City of Atlanta's code.
Watson said the city was initiating condemnation procedures for those parcels of land for which a settlement could not be negotiated with landowners.
County commissioner Peter Whiteitten said the county would begin condemnation procedures late this week on the land that has not already been acquired.
Watson and Whitenth agreed that the city and county governmental systems would receive title to the condemned land about 45 days after starting the legal pro-
Whittengain said that construction on the project could begin any time after the bids were accepted early this fall but that the work would not begin until next spring because of weather problems usually encountered during the winter.
He declined to make an estimate as to when the parkway might be completed.
"The usual time required for a major road project like this is seven years, so the lake will probably be full before the road is finished," he said.
Air Canada jet crashes on takeoff
TORONTO (AP)—An Air Canada jetliner with 107 persons boarded on off the end of the runway on takeoff and plumged 40 feet into a rainy yesterday, killing at least two persons and injuring most of the other passengers and crew, authorities reported.
Thomas Daulish, the regional coroner, said he pronounced two persons dead at the scene. They were identified as J. Frank Serse of Victoria, Britain, Columbia, and Iwain Theodore Childs of Tampa, Florida. He also announced an earlier report on a third person died en route to a hospital.
The twin-engine DC-9 was leaving Toronto International Airport on a domestic flight for Winnipeg and Vancouver when the pilot attempted to abort the takeoff, but apparently ran out of runway, a Ministry of Transport official said. The plane never left the ground.
"WE CAN'T SAY what caused it," John Wardall, a spokesman for Air Canada, said. "We believed it was loss of power in our systems and we are not sure."
some passengers said they heard or felt what appeared to be a tire bleatout during the takeoff run.
"We weren't up in the air yet," Burt Sinchlair, a passenger, said. "I felt as if we blow a tire from the vibrations and the way it began."
There was no explosion or fire in the plane, but firemen from several neighboring areas and airport emergency crews doused the fire.
The airline spokesman said the tail section broke off and the wings were damaged.
Bobby Gimry, a Canadian bandleader who was aboard the plane, said the jell fell "straight down, just like going over a cliff."
"I was sitting right up front and saw it all," he said. "I just held on tight. I guess I was one of the lucky ones."
AT LEAST 20 of the 102 passengers and five crew members walked in, were injured, most with broken bones and several passengers跌倒.
Herb Ellis, another passenger, said the jelliner "was rolling nicely and I heard a tire blow. I think the pilot was at the point of no return." The passenger was shaken.
There was no panic at all. But after the crash, people started making noises because they were hurt."
The rear door was jammed, Ellis said, but the front door and the emergency doors over the wings opened.
THE ACCIDENT occurred at about 8:15 a.m. The flight originated in Ottawa.
Side by side
The demolition of the old Massachusetts Street bridge continues in preparation for a second span across the Kansas River. The
construction of the new span had been halted because an inspector was not present at the site.
Women's advising service provides crisis support
Staff Writer
By TAMMY TIERNEY
Transitional care doesn't provide all the answers for battered women or women going through a divorce or separation, but it often serves as "a very good Band-Aid." Patty Kempherne, Lawrence. Women's Care Services counselor, said yesterday.
"Often the problems that we deal with are of such magnitude that the best we can do is patch things up and hold them together," she said. "But often just the fact that another woman is there to listen can be very helpful."
The organization also provides temporary
The women's organization, a volunteer organization of about 30 members, was formed in February 1977 to provide peer support for women with domestic problems.
Kempthorne said that the organization often referred clients to Legal Aid, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, job counseling services or day care
"When a woman calls," she said, "she is often undecided about what she's going to do, so we try to give her concrete information about what the real alternatives
KEMPTHORNE said most clients were either women who had been by their husbands or women considering divorce and are seeking support for emotional support and practical advice.
shelter for women who need to leave home immediately.
"About two-thirds of the women we talk to have called us after giving it considerable thought," Kemphorne said. "But one third of them have not spoken, they might have nowhere else to go or turn."
Often such cases are referred to the organization by the state Rebellation and Social Services, Penn House, the Job Center or the police, she said.
Patty Dorita, an organization counselor, said that there were organization volunteers on call 24 hours a day and that WTCS received two to 10 calls a week.
WOMEN SEEKING help can be put in touch with an organization volunteer through Headquarters, a local crisis intervention center, or the KU Information Center.
"It's very important that women contact it, don't make initial contact with them at all."
Kempherma said that once a client made contact, she tried to make an assessment of the client's problem and then arranged a meeting.
a lot of the time during the first meeting spend just listening, "she said. "After that, she had no trouble talking."
"Sometimes this can be accomplished in one or two meetings. Sometimes a woman will come back over a six-month to one-year cycle using the meetings as an emotional base."