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Editorials
Tuesday, November 21, 2000Adversaries reach
accord on MedicaidThe issue: The insurance industry and consumer groups that collided six years ago over a proposal for national health insurance agreed on a compromise.
WHILE this year's presidential candidates were debating the government's appropriate role in health care, two organizations that have been at loggerheads on the issue were seeking common ground. The result is a framework for legislation that could expand health-care coverage to millions of Americans. The proposal should renew efforts in Congress to improve the system.
The Health Insurance Association of America used "Harry and Louise" in television ads six years ago, warning that President Clinton's plan would turn health-care decisions over to bureaucrats and deprive people of the right to choose their physicians. Families USA, a liberal consumer group, lobbied for the Clinton proposal, contending it would provide important patient protections, including the right to sue insurance companies over claim denials.
Joined by the American Hospital Association, the one-time adversarial groups have unveiled a proposal targeting 23 million people in low-income families earning less than twice the federal poverty level -- about $28,300 for a family of three. That would provide coverage to more than half of the 43 million Americans who are now uninsured.
Medicaid would be expanded to cover parents and single adults, many of whom are ineligible because they work full time at the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. It also would provide a tax credit that the health-insurance industry has supported for businesses that pay at least 70 percent of premiums for low-income workers.
"In the past, every group interested in extending coverage to the uninsured held out for their favorite approach. As a result, nothing was accomplished," said Chip Kahn, president of the Health Insurance of America. Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack added, "Political gridlock should no longer be an option in dealing with America's uninsured epidemic."
The philosophic compromise would not come cheap, costing in the billions of dollars annually. However, the proposal would be a logical beneficiary of the projected budget surplus that was central to presidential debates.
Japan’s prime minister
survives ouster attempt
JAPANESE Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori survived a no-confidence vote but his days in power are numbered. Koichi Kato, the protagonist from within Mori's own party, apologized to the public for backing away from the rebellion but promised a future attempt to unseat Mori. The longer Mori clings to his position, the more divided his ruling Liberal Democratic Party may become.
Mori's popularity has declined steadily since his backroom selection as prime minister in April after Premier Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke that led to his death. A series of gaffes brought his support levels to near-historic lows of less than 20 percent.
Opposition to Mori gained momentum recently when Kato, a former LDP secretary-general and foreign minister, declared that he and his bloc of more than two dozen supporters would support a no-confidence vote. However, when the opposition party put the vote forward, Kato backed down, instructing his backers to stay away from parliament during the vote.
Kato, who craves the premiership, called the move an "honorable retreat." He said the attempt lacked "enough preparation and strategy" to be successful: "The pain for my colleagues would have been too great at this time. I, together with my colleagues, decided to retreat to conserve our strength and consolidate our forces." The Kato forces apparently were judged to be too limited to assure Mori's defeat. In their absence, the no-confidence vote failed, 237-190.
Mori may have spent some of his political capital to keep his seat, leaving him weaker than before. Political observers say a compromise allowing Mori to save face was likely to be an agreement with party elders for his graceful exit in the near future.
Kato is not expected to leave the skirmish unscathed with the LDP. Some analysts expect that Kato and a few of his associates will be punished and perhaps even expelled from the party. Kato then may turn to the Democratic Party, the largest opposition faction, in an attempt to form a coalition to achieve his aims.
Such a coalition could pose a serious challenge to the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power in Japan for most of the past half century.
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
