ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 5, 1992                   TAG: 9202050375
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY THOMAS BOYER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short


AARP ENDORSES HEALTH TAX

Gov. Douglas Wilder announced Tuesday that the American Association of Retired Persons has endorsed his proposed $60 million tax on hospitals, nursing homes and doctors - the largest organization to endorse the plan.

The AARP, which has more than 700,000 Virginia members, joins the AFL-CIO, the Virginia Education Association, the Virginia Sheriffs Association and a half-dozen other statewide groups.

Groups who oppose the measure are the Virginia Hospital Association and the Medical Society of Virginia.

The tax, coupled with a bevy of proposed new regulations on the health-care industry, has become the top-priority issue for Wilder in the General Assembly session.

Key committee votes on the package are expected this week, and the lobbying from both sides has grown intense.

On Monday and Tuesday, hospital employees and volunteers from around the state jammed Capitol hallways and legislative offices, shaking hands with legislators and presenting petitions opposing the tax.

Wilder has continued meeting with legislators and releasing daily statements critical of hospital management.

Tuesday, he called the hospitals' practice of charging uninsured patients full price for services while negotiating reduced charges with insurance companies "reprehensible."



by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB