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

DATE: SUNDAY, November 14, 1993                   TAG: 9311130070
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LET OFFICIALS KNOW YOU CARE ABOUT HEALTH CARE

The League of Women Voters is nonpartisan and does not take a position on any issue until it has been thoroughly studied, and the members of the league have arrived at a consensus. The league position on health care was formulated over a 2 1/2-year study. These are its basic elements:

1. There must be a basic level of quality care that includes prevention of disease, health education, primary care (including prenatal and reproductive health), acute care, long-term care and mental health care.

2. A single payer plan of national health insurance financed through general taxes in place of individual insurance premiums, is preferred. However, the league would support, as a temporary measure, an employer-based system that provides universal access, as we move toward a national health insurance plan.

3. If health-care reforms contain effective cost control strategies, the league supports increased taxes to finance a basic level of health care for all. "Sin taxes" on alcohol and tobacco would be acceptable because they encourage healthier lifestyles. The league opposes a value added tax as an unfair burden on low- and middle-income Americans.

4. Cost controls must be part of the plan. For example, reductions in administrative costs, increased consumer accountability for health care costs, etc.

5. Equitable distribution of health-care services, regardless of location, income, age, gender or race.

One of every seven dollars spent in the United States is now being spent on health care. More than 70 percent of all counties are "medically underserved." More than 43 million people are medically underserved.

Eighty-six percent of all infant deaths, 93 percent of tuberculosis cases and 99 percent of all diseases that could have been prevented by immunization occurred in medically underserved areas. More than 14 million of the poorest Americans are children under 18. More than 35 million people have no health insurance coverage.

Our elected representatives need to know that we care about each other and want cost-effective universal health care.\ Nadine J. Newcomb,\ President\ League of Women Voters\ Blacksburg