Friday, October 8,1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A-Page 7
2
Nation/World
House passes bill for patient rights
Legislation includes provisions for suing insurance companies
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON— After a two-year struggle, the House approved a sweeping bill meant to give patients a stronger hand in dealing with their health insurance companies, including a controversial new right to file lawsuits.
The final vote, 275-151, came after intense lobbying on both sides, including President Clinton, who phoned lawmakers from Air Force One.
"It is time we asked the insurance industry to be responsible for its actions," said Rep. Charlie Norwood, RGa., who joined with Democrats to push the bill — first to the House floor and then to passage.
Earlier yesterday, the House rejected a GOP-backed patient protection bill that included new rights to sue, but only in federal court and only in limited circumstances. That vote was 238-193, with 29 Republicans joining all but two Democrats.
For two years, Democrats have put the GOP on the defensive about the politically popular HMO issue. Republican leaders, struggling with a slim majority and a fractured caucus, did not endorse any bill until debate opened on the issue this week.
But they worked fiercely in recent days to rally support for their version. Many Republicans reluctantly supported it in hopes of defeating the broader Democratic bill, and supporters painted it as a compromise between the Democratic approach and doing nothing.
"We've got a solid, balanced approach that I urge you to support," said House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-III. "The difference in these bills is how far you go. How far you give license to the trial lawyers."
But Democrats argued that it did not go far enough.
"It fails to hold health care providers accountable. It lets them off the hook," said Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
Now the House bill must be reconciled with a considerably more limited version already approved by the Senate. The Senate bill has no new rights to sue and excludes many Americans from other patient protections.
Federal law now effectively bans such lawsuits for millions of Americans, even if they are injured or die because of an HMO's decision.
The bill approved yesterday allows patients to sue HMOs in federal or state court and to collect whatever damages a jury might award.
Democratic leaders feared that concerns about how to pay for it may cost them votes, but Clinton sought to clarify that he still strongly supports the bill. He promised not to sign any bill that was not fully paid for.
Democrats and some Republicans argued that the threat of a lawsuit was needed to force insurance companies to provide promised care.
"We tell welfare mothers, we tell dead-bad爸, you have to be responsible for yourself," said Norwood, the leading Republican backer of the right to sue.
The GOP strategy has been to focus attention on the uninsured, as Republicans argue that new rights will drive up the cost of insurance and force employers to drop coverage. Hammering the point Wednesday, Republicans pushed through a bill, 227-205, aimed at reducing the ranks of the uninsured, which now stand at 44 million.
Iraq, United States attempt to improve relations
Hussein promises changes in message sent to Clinton
The Associated Press
AMMAN, Jordan—Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has sent a message to President Clinton promising major political reforms in Iraq and offering to stop threatening Israel, a leading Arabic newspaper reported yesterday.
The London-based AlHayat newspaper said the message included an offer for unconditional talks with the United States and assurances that Iraq will play an effective role in the Middle East peace process.
The message is being carried by Jordan's King Abdullah II, who is scheduled to meet with Clinton on Tuesday in Washington.
Administration officials, however, doubted that Iraq would make a serious overture to the United States through Abdullah.
"The Iraqis regularly seek to have discussions with American officials, and we're not interested in those discussions," said State Department spokesman James P. Rubin on Wednesday.
Iraiqi leader Saddam Hussein has sent a message to President Clinton promising major political reforms in Iraq.
If the Al-Hayat report is correct, it would mark
a major turnaround in Iraq's hard-line policies and show a willingness to mend fences with its main enemies, the United States and Israel.
In return, Iraq wants Washington to drop its threats to put Saddam and his senior aides on trial as war criminals, AlHayat said.
Al-Hayai said the Iraqi leadership wanted to start reforms, including a new constitution, a multiparty system and respect for human rights.
Cement-filled bombs used by planes to cut the civilian casualties
The Associated Press
ISTANBUL, Turkey—In a move to minimize civilian casualties, U.S. warplanes have been dropping bombs filled with cement and not explosives in raids on Iraqi installations, a military official said yesterday.
The 2,000- to 3,000-pound laser-guided bombs are still capable of causing damage, especially when dropped from high altitudes by a speeding jet, said Lt. Col. Michael Waters, a spokesman for Operation Northern Watch, the allied effort to patrol a no-fly zone above northern Iraq.
The new bombs were introduced following Iraqi allegations that the constant bombings by U.S. jets in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire were causing civilian casualties.
"We are extremely careful about collateral damage." Waters said. "We have used those bombs."
"If you drop it on a radio, it could break the radio without blowing up." Waters said.
Operation Northern Watch warplanes are based at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.
U. S. and British planes have been patrolling no-fly zones above northern and southern Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect Kurdish and Shiite minorities from the forces of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The cement-filled bombs also cut the cost of the operation. American and British pilots often drop bombs a few times a week. They use anything from $12,000 laser-guided bombs to $80,000 Maverick missiles.
"The guidance equipment is still there but the cement is less expensive than explosives," Waters said.
Wyoming addressing issue of intolerance after Shepard murder
The Associated Press
LARAMIE, Wyo.—In the year since gay college student Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die on the freezing prairie, Laramie has done a lot of thinking about intolerance.
The public schools have changed their conflict-resolution classes to focus more on preventing bullying, and in particular the harassment of gays. At the University of Wyoming, where Shepard was studying political science, education students are learning how to teach tolerance.
And in what could be a sign of a growing public acceptance, the United Gays and Lesbians of Wyoming group reports that membership has increased from 150 to 250 since Shepard was killed.
"Most of our faculty were really appalled, had trouble believing it could happen here, and some went into denial," said Charles Head, superintendent of Laramie schools. "But they recognized that it did happen here and we had to address that."
The ways Laramie has changed since Oct. 7, 1998, will come into sharper focus next week as Aaron McKinney goes on trial for murder beginning Monday — which also happens to be National Coming Out Day and the beginning of Gay Awareness Week.
McKinney, 22, could get the death penalty if convicted. Russell Henderson, 22, pleaded guilty for his role in the murder and is serving a life sentence. He has been subpoenaed to testify.
Shepard. 21, was lured from a bar, driven out of town, robbed of $20, tied to a fence, pistol-whipped into a coma and left to die. A bicyclist who found him nearly hidden in the sagebrush 18 hours later at first thought the slight, 5-foot-2 inch Shepard was a scarecrow.
Many of Laramie's 26,000 residents felt the town was unfairly portrayed as a rural, homophobic outpost. But they were also troubled by the fact that McKinney and Henderson were homegrown.
Since then, Laramie schools — motivated also by the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School — have increased their sensitivity toward bullying and the mistreatment of homosexuals.
"I kind of doubt if sexual orientation was being addressed to any real degree prior to this tragedy, and I'm reasonably certain that it is being addressed as we speak." Head said.
At the university, President Philip Dubois asked trustees to make certain that every campus policy statement banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The university also plans to raise $1.5 million to endow the Matthew Shepard Chair of Civil Liberties. A benefit concert by Elton John in June brought in $55,000.
The attack on Shepard was one of six hate crimes in the past year in Wyoming, which is nicknamed the Equality State. The others — three against American Americans, one against an Asian American and one against a Jew — were not fatal.
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STUDENT THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SENATE
Attention Students!!!
Replacement Student Senator Applications are available in the Student Senate Office for the following seats:
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Applications are due Friday, October 8th at 5:00p.m. Any Questions? Contact the Student Senate office at 864-3710