4 Wednesday, August 25, 1976 University Dally Kansan Comment Opinions on this page reflect the view of only the writer. Korea for Koreans What began as a tree-trimming expedition in the demilitarized zone that separates North Korea from South Korea appears to have grown into an incident that could pull the United States into another war in Southeast Asia. One week ago today, two U.S. officers were hacked to death by North Korean guards as the Americans attempted to trim a 40-foot poplar tree that was planted by U.S. and South Korean forces of North Korea guards across the DMZ. SO FAR, President Gerald Ford has acted with relative restraint. The aircraft carrier Midway and five other vessels are near the shores of North Korea and two jet fighter squadrons have been sent to reinforce the South Koreans. Saturday, U.S. and South Korean forces cut down the tree during a show of strength by American warplanes and helicopters. A move personally approved by Ford. The North Koreans issued a statement that indirectly expressed regret for the incident in the U.S. State Department and North Korean statement was unacceptable. The North Koreans responded with another statement. This one, however, was threatening, not apologetic. "BY INFILTRATING their warships into the waters of another country, the U.S. imperialist aggressors force a conflict upon the other side and by issuing an 'emergency alert order' in response to the threats proclaimed these waters a battlefield," the statement, broadcast over North Korean radio, said. The American naval convoy into Korean waters should be regarded—by both Ford and the Koreans—not as a strike force, but as a show of strength. Another Mayaguez incident might boost Ford's popularity, but it might also mean the beginning of another Asian land war. The North Koreans are different from the Cambodians, who said after the Mayaguez was rescued that their "weak confrontation with the United States." The North Koreans have a well-equipped army ready to cross the DMZ if they are provoked. There is little chance that U.S. forces could retaliate for the two deaths in any way that would not set off another Korean War. And there is little reason for the North Korea states to strike back at the North Koreans. The South Koreans have the world's fifth largest army to fight their own battles. They are the ones who should defend their country. IT WOULD be a political and moral disaster for Ford to commit U.S. troops to a war in Korea over the death of two soldiers. The Mayaguez rescue alone cost 38 American lives. This would be a small number compared with what American intervention in Korea would cost. If the South Koreans think the poplar tree is worth going to war over, they can probably count on aid from the United States, not the Americans, fight the war. By Carl Young Contributing Writer © 1976 NYT SPECIAL FEATURES "IT'S A CEASEFIRE! RUN FOR YOUR LINES!" Congress needs change The American people are feed with up the infirmity, bloated government in Washington, and one hopes they take out their The medical rip-off What's up, doc? Why is U. S. Sen. Frank Moss of Utah leading this fight? Why isn't the medical profession out in front instead? And why is the Justice Department lally-gagging on the job? damning evidence—of kickbacks on laboratory business. Two weeks ago, he revealed the reason: his doctor had between two New York doctors, surreptitiously tape-recorded, in which one of them describes in lip-licking detail his tech skills, including the Medicare program. The questions come insistently to mind as one of the most difficult problems of rip-offs in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Moss has been digging into these scandals for months. He has had mighty trouble getting the facts right. THE TECHNIQUES involve charges for patient visits that are never made, charges for lab work never done or THE SENATOR emphasizes repeatedly that the number of such contemptible characters is relatively small. Only 4 per cent of the nation's doctors are in fraud. But in a practice where such contempt and a practice of medicine, 4 per cent should be a matter of acute concern. Obviously the situation concerns Sen. Moss. If it acutely concerns the American Medical Association, the AMA's outrage somehow has escaped this correspondent. Perhaps the AMA wants the murmuring noises, but no crusade is taking shape. Moss lays out evidence that cannot be brushed aside. A number of practicing artists are attacking common thieves. They are swindlers, racketeers, con artists, and plain crooks. They are stealing money as surely bank robbery or embezzlement. Moss is the crusader. Through a Senate subcommittee, he has worked relentlessly to expose the crooked doctors. He has compiled volumes of evidence— James J. Kilpatrick never required, fake invoices and faulty memory, Rip-offs from Medicaid, which serves welfare clients, are far worse than rip-offs from Medicare, which serves those on Social Security, but the differences are differences in degree only. stance. Committee chairmen are still fairly secure, for caucus members don't want to oppose a chairman unless they are sure he will be deposed. Should the chairman retain power, those who opposed him may find life miserable. unit has uncovered 20,000 apparent cases of possible fraud. In a recent appearance before the Senate Finance Committee, Moss outlined a half-dozen cases of typical Medical fraud. The cases came from across the United States, Texas, Colorado and California. The cases involved a couple of osteopaths, a pediatrist, a surgeon and a dentist—all of them licensed practitioners. There were flagrant cases, involving the theft of thousands of dollars from hospitals. Most of the defendants served as much as a day in jail. OF THESE, 459 have been referred to Justice for prosecution. Of the 459, only 21 actually have gone to trial. Of the 210 trials, 150 have resulted in conviction. Of the 150 convicted defendants, three got two-year terms, two got one-year terms, and fourences from 30 days to six months. The rest went effectively free, with no more than fines or probation. frustrations on Congress this year. It is a great racket, this Medicaid/Medicare fraud. Looking at the only Medicare provider in the county in 1969, Medicare's investigative The scandal has reached massive proportions. The Medicaid program is so shot through with fraud that Moss won't hazard an estimate on the total rip-off. The answer to this racket would appear to lie in revocation of a crooked doctor's procedure. The procedure is more easily urged than fulfilled. State licensing boards commonly are underfinanced and understaffed. No mechanisms exist that allow doctors to forbear a crooked lawyer. The worst punishment a local medical society can impose is to deny the thieving doctor membership—and the doctors are rarely members anyhow. Every federal dollar spent must be approved by Congress; Congress is supposed to oversee all agencies and insure their efficiency; it was Congress that created the large bureaucracy. Unfortunately, before Congress will ever be able to make the rest of government better, it must reform itself so it can act effectively. Some progress has been made in these areas, but more must be done. HIS FINDINGS on Medicare is reasonably said to about $1.5 billion of the $15 billion spent annually on Medicare is siphoned away by fraud. Of that $1.5 billion, an estimated 30% of the money is surely thefts of this magnitude warrant the alarmed attention of both the medical profession and the Justice Department. But the honest physicians are busy and the federal prosecutors have been careful not to. So the fraud goes on—and its continuance ought to make good doctors ill. Greg Hack Contributing Writer Steering and Policy Committee, elected each term by the Democrats, got that duty. the outset of 1975, three chairmen actually failed the votes and were replaced. A solution is to have the Democratic Caucus vote by secret ballot. Only they will chairmen, who often thwart the vote by delaying or refusing to consider bills, act as they should. Also, committee chairmen, once chosen solely on seniority, have been called to a fiduciary fidence by the caucus of majority party in the House. At The House has taken some steps to decentralize power. At one time, the House Ways and Means Committee assigned all members of the committee giving Wilbur Milhil who was then chairman, great power. This was changed in December 1974, when the But too much power still remains in too few hands. For example, one of the three chairmen ousted in 1975 was replaced by Rup. Meldon Price. The company tenure. He took over the Armed Services Committee, and has continued his pro-Pentagon Another major problem is overlapping committees with staffs that continue to grow, and the lack of paperwork and less results. At least 18 House subcommittees deal with education, and there is no one committee with clear power over energy or the environment. WKDC/ Corry and Westphal TODAY SCIENTISTS FROM THE CAL TECH RESEARCH LABORATORIES HAVE DIVULGED THAT FRUCHI QUIT GUM MAY HAVE CAUSED CANCER IN THREE WHITE MICE. WHEN CONTACTED FOR COMMENT, THE HEAD OF THE RESEARCH TEAM, DR. THADDELUS KARBINOMA, SAID THAT THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT THUS PAY ARE NOT CONCLUSIVE... ...NOR WOULD THEY BE UNTIL A SUPFICIENTLY LARGER NUMBER OF MICE COULD BE TRAUGHT TO CHEW THE GUM WITHOUT SWALLOWING. THE UNIVERSITY DAILY THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Published at the University of Kansas Daily August 14th, 2015. Subscriptions pay $75. June and July罢 except Saturday, Sunday and Holiday. Subscriptions pay $19. 60844. Subscriptions by mail are $2 a semester or $14 a year. A post office card is required. A yearly suicide endure the county. Student subscriptions are free. Cause of death not covered. Editor Debbie Curran Debbie Gump Managing Editor Editorial Editor Vail Amakholah Bettel Tim Wetts Managing Editor Yet Abelashahk Campaign Editor Associate Campus Editor Associate Campus Editors Sheet Photographers Photo Editor Staff Photographers Sports Editor Assoc Sports Editor Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Promotional Editor Editorial Editor Jim Bates Brant Brann Bill Biflun Sheet Photographers Chuck Alexander George Milleer, Ken Koehler Steve Schenkeld Brent Anderson Alison Gwinn Alison Gwinn Alison Gwinn The House Democrats had a chance to remedy this in October 1974 when a bipartisan agreement with Richard Bolling, D-Mo., recommended a streamlined of the committee system and a requirement that Congressmen in only one major committee. Business Manager Terry Hanson Howls went up from almost all of the Democrats in power. No one wanted to risk losing his committee niche if he was a Democrat, but the chairman. The chairmen of the three small committees recommended to be eliminated (Merchant Marine, Post Office) and especially displeased. The powerful lobbies, with their claws deeply into the current system and the Democrats in power, didn't want their allies of influence broken. Assistant Business Manager Carole Roekoenter Associate Marketing Manager Jance Clemente Assistant Advertising Manager Classified Manager Sarah McAnany National Advertising Manager National Advertising Manager Timothy O'Shea The result? The Boiling plan, backed by Common Cause, was turned down by a majority of the House Democrats. And the committee system was almost as bad as before. The Democrats did make two major research and development in the underworked Committee on Science and Technology and gathering mass transit concerns under the Public Works and Environment Committee. But the changes aren't enough. Some committees, such as Foreign Affairs, remain underworked, and others, most importantly not much work and more. Even worse, the grip of special interests on those in power remains as strong as ever. The militant continual fighting among the pack of prima domas who are committee chairmen over whose committee should handle energy and employment programs, goes a long way toward explaining why the overwhelmingly Democratic never really gets much done. M Other reforms concerning many areas, including staff sizes, expense accounts, newsletters, the Congressional Record and televising sessions that are not decentralized power and untangling the committee system should come first. 'Nobo cried in strators anarchis pig? Some the med three R Eve A 10- Tuesday Commis The m Develop was recr Or Letters Policy Letters to the editor are welcomed but should be typewritten, double-spaced and no longer than 400 words. All letters are edited and may be condensed according to space limitations. Letters to the editor must be signed; KU students must provide their academic standing and hometown; faculty must provide their position; others must provide their address.