Editorials
Tuesday, September 21, 1999Peacekeepers’ belated
arrival in East TimorOnce again an international force has landed in a war-torn land, this time the half-island of East Timor in Indonesia. As in the case of Kosovo only a few months ago, the arrival comes too late to prevent a slaughter of civilians.The issue: A United Nations peacekeeping force has landed in East Timor.
The massacre could have been averted. There were ample warnings that violence might follow the Aug. 30 plebiscite on independence from Indonesia, but the world community didn't take measures to prevent it. Still, the arrival of a 7,500-member force is a welcome though belated effort to restore order.
There was no resistance initially to the Australian, New Zealand and British troops from the Indonesian military or the pro-Indonesian militias that have terrorized the population and reduced the capital, Dili, to ruins.
But the Indonesian generals had earlier resisted Australian leadership of the peacekeeping force and it was too soon to tell whether trouble might yet develop. The arriving soldiers were taking no chances.
The international force must bring peace and order to a land that has been ravaged in reaction to the U.N.-supervised plebiscite. Bands of militiamen, with apparent encouragement of the army, attempted to nullify the overwhelming approval of independence with killing, arson and looting. Thousands fled into the hills, others to neighboring West Timor.
That outrage could not be accepted. To its credit, the United Nations Security Council acted quickly last week in authorizing the dispatch of troops from a base in Australia -- but only after the worst had already occurred. Indonesian resistance to Australian leadership of the force was brushed aside.
Indonesia's President B.J. Habibie, facing the threat of economic sanctions, agreed to accept the peacekeepers, reversing his previous absurd insistence that the Indonesian army could handle the situation. Now pressure on the Indonesia government must be sustained to ensure that the army cooperates with the peacekeepers and that the militias are disarmed.
The United Nations Children's Fund estimates that 190,000 to 300,000 refugees are hiding in East Timor, in addition to 141,000 who fled to West Timor, which will remain under Indonesian rule. There is an urgent need to get aid to these people before they succumb to hunger and disease.
The U.N. must ensure that East Timor -- what is left of it after the carnage -- becomes independent in accordance with the referendum results. The East Timorese people, who had been under Portuguese rule for centuries, never accepted Indonesia after Jakarta seized the territory in 1975. In the ensuing years thousands died resisting Indonesian occupation. But the plebiscite made their sentiments a matter of record. Now massive aid will be needed to repair the damage and give East Timor a chance to make a success of its independence.
The United States, which played a leading role in the Kosovo crisis, tried to stay out of this one and wound up in a secondary position. Fortunately Australia, which as a close neighbor has a strong interest in Indonesian stability, has taken the initiative.
There is a long history of Pentagon support for the Indonesian military that makes the United States culpable to some extent for this disaster. Congress should examine that record with a view to preventing such mistakes in the future.
Medicare fraud
PHYSICIANS and hospitals often have been accused of defrauding the Medicare program through overpayments and billing for services not provided. Only recently have investigations begun to focus on the very companies that are responsible for policing such fraud -- those that pay Medicare claims for the government. The conflicts of interest inherent in such a system point to the need for independent oversight.
The 44 contractors that run Medicare's day-to-day financial operation this year are expected to handle 900 million claims and pay out $177 billion, following detailed instructions by Medicare officials. However, the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, has found that lax federal supervision has allowed problems to go undetected.
Leslie G. Aronovitz, associate director of health-care studies at the GAO, says the conflict arises from corporate partnerships between the Medicare contractors and the doctors and hospitals they are supposed to be policing. The GAO found that contractors had altered documents, hidden files and back-dated records to make their own work seem acceptable to government officials. Detection of misconduct by doctors and hospitals came from whistle-blowers.
Last year, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare and paid $4 million in criminal fines and $140 million in settlement of civil charges. It had been hired to provide services to Medicare beneficiaries in Michigan because the Blue Cross and Blue Shield contractor in Michigan was regarded as inadequate.
In all, eight companies have paid more than $275 million to the government to settle charges of defrauding Medicare, falsifying records or paying costs from the Medicare trust fund instead of private insurers.
Congress should examine the conflicts of interest that resulted in this deception and adopt standards designed to prevent abuses from continuing. The huge amount of money involved in Medicare requires vigilant oversight and detection of wrongdoing.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
