Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 9, 1993 TAG: 9305090218
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Califano, a former secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and an adviser on domestic affairs to President Lyndon Johnson, said society cannot adopt the attitudes of the 19th century Luddites, who so feared the dawn of the industrial age that they smashed the labor-saving machinery in their factories.
"Of course, we need technology but we must ask how to use technology to serve good ends," said Califano, who urged the 333 graduates, including his niece Dana Parkinson, to "question the inventions of modern life."
Advances in 20th century medicine led to the discovery of drugs that freed the mentally ill from their terrors, he said. But a consequence of that advance was the dumping of many of those same patients out of institutions without the safety net of home and family.
The computer chip has also revolutionized the delivery of information in every aspect of American life, but it also brings with it the question of preserving fundamental privacy rights, he said.
"Information without engagement is the stuff of political impotence in America, and engagement without information is the stuff of demagoguery," Califano said.
Califano, who was present at the creation of the Medicaid and Medicare systems, has spent much of the last two decades shaping the debate over the delivery of health care to Americans.
Now, with medical costs gobbling up more and more of the nation's dollars, he believes the Clinton administration is poised to enact significant changes.
At a news conference prior to the ceremony, he predicted it will be "more expensive in the short run" to alter the current system, but he hopes a consequence of the upheaval will be more focus on prevention.
Califano, who heads the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, said Americans must come to terms with the medical costs associated with smoking and alcohol use.
"It's got to happen," he said. He predicted the president's task force will recommend higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol to help pay for health care.
He also believes there will be a push to combine the Medicaid and Medicare systems - which he advocated under Carter - in order to streamline the government's delivery of medical services to the poor and elderly.
He has written that the Clinton administration "has the first real chance since Lyndon Johnson to make health care available to more Americans."
Following Califano's address, Roanoke College President David Gring presented diplomas to the graduates assembled on the front lawn of the school in Salem.
Steve Pasley of Moneta was the class valedictorian; Michelle Austin, of Buchanan, was salutatorian. The Rev. John Byerly, retired minister of First English Luteran Church in Richmond, received an honorary doctor of divinity degree.
by CNB