Medical Coverage

In this election year, America is embroiled in a critical debate. How do we maintain the quality of our health-care system while expanding coverage and reducing costs? How do we protect workers who lose their medical coverage when they change jobs because of pre-existing conditions? How do we provide health care for the millions of Americans who have no coverage?The bottom line is: Americans are afraid. They are afraid of changing jobs for fear of losing their health insurance. They are afraid of getting seriously ill with no medical coverage, cut adrift to shoulder astronomically high medical bills.

WORLD Iraq dangerous for helicopters Iraq is becoming increasingly dangerous for the hundreds of U.S. military helicopters flying missions there. Five helicopters have gone down in Iraq in three weeks. pg 1a NATIONAL FDA approves weight-loss drug The Food and Drug Administration approved the first officially sanctioned weight-loss drug to be sold without a prescription. pg 6a MARYLAND Medical coverage for uninsured Maryland House of Delegates leaders unveiled yesterday a $600 million proposal that would extend medical coverage to nearly 250,000 uninsured residents.

I am a retiree planning some extensive travel in Europe and Asia. Are there any Medicare-approved hospitals abroad?The only countries outside the United States in which Medicare provides coverage are Canada and Mexico.Even in those countries, Medicare, which helps pay for health-care services for people 65 and older and some disabled people, requires that the foreign hospital be closer and more accessible than the nearest U.S. hospital equipped to treat a patient.For Canadian coverage, at the time of the emergency a patient must be in Canada or traveling via Canada between Alaska and another state by the most direct route.

HAILED AND dreaded as the most profound shift in federal social policy in six decades, the welfare bill of 1996 goes into effect tomorrow. Are we ready? Do we know what happens now?No. Uncertainties reign, and all states' situations differ. But a set of deep, tough issues will be getting attention.Number One: Are Americans, in their states and localities, up to forging a social contract determining what the privileged owe the poor? For decades issues of income redistribution, of equity in society, have been left to the federal government.

Moving to mend holes in the health-care safety net, Gov. Parris N. Glendening is expected today to propose giving government-financed medical coverage to thousands of uninsured children and pregnant women in Maryland.The governor's proposal would provide basic health insurance for more than 5,000 children age 3 and younger, and about 1,000 expectant mothers, according to sources familiar with the plan.The coverage would be offered to uninsured children and pregnant women from families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $38,000 for a family of four.

Good morning, Hon. This feature died, but that didn't last.General Powell has restored the center to a Republican Party that isn't sure it wants one.Investigators at the Johns Hopkins University discovered that the poor have less medical coverage than the rich.Resurrection is invigorating. I recommend it.

When President Clinton and Congress finish pushing that health-care rock down the road a year or so from now, Frances Mackall, 32, will probably be at the end of the line awaiting treatment for a painful kidney stone.She is one of an estimated 37 million Americans without medical coverage.Removing the kidney stone would require an operation that costs $5,000, nearly half of what her family receives annually in Social Security and other benefits. Her remaining options seem to be these:* Acquire a life-threatening condition that qualifies her for free emergency room treatment.

Clinton health plan needs more workAfter reading about the president's proposed national health care plan I am greatly disturbed at the level of naivete. While supposedly "all encompassing," it has many faults.The president says that everyone will contribute toward coverage, with employers large and small bearing a fair share of the expense. The plan proposed a 7.9 percent of payroll cap on large businesses, with all small businesses expected to contribute at a prorated level.The reality is that most large employers have contracts that were a result of collective bargaining.

Q: Could you list companies that cover medical expenses for travelers going out of the country?A: Here are some companies that offer medical insurance -- sometimes available only in combination with other kinds of coverage, such as trip cancellation. Bear in mind that most companies will not cover pre-existing medical problems, and their definition of such problems varies. Rates are for two weeks of coverage; longer-term coverage is also available. Some of the policies have a deductible for each claim.

How surprising a stock can be. One of the analysts' favorites is Mid Atlantic Medical Services, a Rockville-based holding company for health-care organizations that this week reported its best year ever.Revenues soared and earnings improved substantially as the company increased the number of people it serves by more than two-thirds to nearly 600,000 people. So what did the stock do when the 1991 report was issued on Tuesday? It fell 3 points, to 11 1/4 , in very heavy trading.Analysts who were somewhat cool to Mid Atlantic last year have warmed up in recent months.

Vacations are supposed to be good for your health, but what happens when you face a medical emergency in the middle of a trip? In Natasha Richardson's tragic case, a fall on a beginner's slope at a Canadian ski resort was deadly. But many other vacationers have suffered heart attacks, strokes, car crashes or other accidental injuries. Last month, several cruise passengers on an excursion in the Caribbean were seriously hurt when the bus they were riding in lost control and veered into a ditch.

Ground rent reform proposed Lawmakers and Gov. Martin O'Malley unveiled a ground rent reform package that would make sweeping changes to the arcane system by preventing home seizures, tightening notification requirements and expanding homeowners' options for buying out ground leases. City rowhouse battle ends Baltimore Heritage has dropped its battle to save a row of historic downtown houses, clearing the way for Mercy Medical Center's $292 million expansion. Senator Theatre to be sold The Senator Theatre, one of the last of the nation's once-numerous art deco movie palaces and the only one still showing films in Baltimore, is scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction Feb. 21. Medical coverage for uninsured Maryland House of Delegates leaders unveiled a $600 million proposal that would extend medical coverage to nearly 250,000 uninsured residents.

WORLD Iraq dangerous for helicopters Iraq is becoming increasingly dangerous for the hundreds of U.S. military helicopters flying missions there. Five helicopters have gone down in Iraq in three weeks. pg 1a NATIONAL FDA approves weight-loss drug The Food and Drug Administration approved the first officially sanctioned weight-loss drug to be sold without a prescription. pg 6a MARYLAND Medical coverage for uninsured Maryland House of Delegates leaders unveiled yesterday a $600 million proposal that would extend medical coverage to nearly 250,000 uninsured residents.

For almost a dozen years, conventional wisdom has dictated that far-reaching, national health care reform wasn't possible in this country. But political winds are blowing in a strong new direction. Now, states are seizing the initiative on this issue, challenging persistent policy deadlock in Washington. Business groups are standing with labor unions and consumer activists, calling for reform. Even the insurance industry has advanced a proposal for universal coverage. As a new wave of reform initiatives surges across the nation, Congress is showing interest in supporting state innovations and is likely to begin a renewed debate over which direction national reforms should take.

Hoping to prod an estimated 5 million uninsured Americans into buying health insurance, the American Medical Association backed yesterday a tax penalty for individuals and families who make enough to buy medical coverage but choose not to. The AMA's policymaking House of Delegates vote in favor of what it called "individual responsibility" comes as state and federal lawmakers are weighing similar ideas in the form of legislation in Congress and statehouses...

CHICAGO -- With millions of Americans losing health insurance and crying for relief from soaring medical costs, Illinois is considering a bold and once-unthinkable proposal - extending medical coverage to all state residents. It's a daunting, politically divisive and potentially expensive prospect, with 1.8 million uninsured people in the state. But experts say health care reform might stand a better chance of passing in Illinois than almost anywhere in the nation. "The odds are long, but they're much better in Illinois than most other states," said Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy.

Attorneys for the Legal Aid Bureau filed a lawsuit yesterday on behalf of eight children, alleging that the state discriminated against them and other non-U.S. citizens by eliminating medical coverage for low-income, legal, permanent resident children. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in Montgomery County Circuit Court, asks that the cuts be declared unconstitutional and requests an injunction requiring the state to provide health coverage to the plaintiffs. "We feel that the budgetary cuts are discriminatory and violate the equal protection section of the state constitution," said Regan Bailey, a Legal Aid Bureau attorney for the plaintiffs.

TEN YEARS after Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton launched the fiasco that began as a bold bid to overhaul the nation's health care system, pressure to provide medical insurance for all Americans is building again. A return of double-digit increases in health insurance premiums has shaken business and political leaders out of the complacency that settled in during the late '90s boom years when insurers could rely on the stock market for profits. And while insurance costs are rising, the struggling economy robs employers and individuals of the wherewithal to pay them.

I am a retiree planning some extensive travel in Europe and Asia. Are there any Medicare-approved hospitals abroad?The only countries outside the United States in which Medicare provides coverage are Canada and Mexico.Even in those countries, Medicare, which helps pay for health-care services for people 65 and older and some disabled people, requires that the foreign hospital be closer and more accessible than the nearest U.S. hospital equipped to treat a patient.For Canadian coverage, at the time of the emergency a patient must be in Canada or traveling via Canada between Alaska and another state by the most direct route.

Moving to mend holes in the health-care safety net, Gov. Parris N. Glendening is expected today to propose giving government-financed medical coverage to thousands of uninsured children and pregnant women in Maryland.The governor's proposal would provide basic health insurance for more than 5,000 children age 3 and younger, and about 1,000 expectant mothers, according to sources familiar with the plan.The coverage would be offered to uninsured children and pregnant women from families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $38,000 for a family of four.