Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Tue, Jul 7 1992 Date: Tue, 7 Jul 92 05:13:30 EDT Message-ID: 07-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update July 7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Tuesday morning in USA TODAY: Health; Teachers; Yugoslavia. TODAY'S DEBATE - HEALTH CARE: USA TODAY'S OPINION: The federal government may be stuck on what to do about health care, but there's no stopping the states. New York and Iowa are the latest to take matters into their own hands. Last week, both states tackled a growing menace - "cherry-picking," insurance companies' questionable practice of insuring only those who need it least. They lure the youngest and healthiest with low rates, but deny or cancel coverage or charge exorbitant fees for those who need it the most - the old, the sick and those in risky occupations. ... If insurers cover only the healthy, the sick - which eventually includes almost everyone - have nowhere to turn. ... New York tackled the problem head-on by barring insurers from cherry-picking for groups with fewer than 50 members. No one can be denied coverage or charged higher rates because of age, illness or other risk factors. ... Anyone can change jobs without the fear of losing health insurance. Iowa ... barred businesses from using genetic tests to discriminate against workers potentially most vulnerable to expensive diseases. Until the nation is of one mind about health-care reform, states like New York and Iowa are good examples to follow. OTHER VIEW: CARL J. SCHRAMM, president of the Health Insurance Association of America: Some tout New York's new health-insurance bill as reform that could help provide affordable coverage to people with small-group or individual insurance who are old, sick or have higher health risks. But as The New York Times notes, "The trouble with the new law is that it can't work." It does nothing to address the more than 2 million New Yorkers without insurance, nor does it address high health-care costs, the root cause responsible for these problems. In effect, it throws the prospect of meaningful health-insurance reform in New York out of the frying pan and into the fire. ... Better alternatives exist. Seventeen states already have approved laws that allow competition and provide guaranteed coverage for everyone in a small group. Under these reforms, coverage is guaranteed renewable (no one could be dropped because of bad health), "portable" (eliminating "job lock") and has limits on premium increases. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON RACE AND GENDER TEACHER IMBALANCE: HOUSTON, Tex., Freddie Richards, 47, agriculture professor: I was a high school teacher and left. A lot of minorities went to school to make money, and there isn't money in education. They go for the money, and you can't blame them because we don't have a history of making money. We need to put resources in education. CHAMPAIGN, Ill., David Willis, 18, college student: If I taught in high school, I'd teach only advanced-placement classes. Anything else would be a waste of time for me. People go to college for a challenge. Women teach more than men because they are more comfortable with children. Men are more competitive. ALEXANDRIA, Va., Pat Mahoney, 40, lawyer: The reason there aren't more men teaching is because the salaries are so low. Women are paid less in every job and industry. The men who are teaching are those who are truly devoted to teaching. Men are not channeled into teaching when they're in high school. LOS ANGELES, Calif., Luisa Perez-Ortega, 34, parent leadership director: In the Latino community, there are very few Latinos going into college in the first place. Of every 100 who attend college, only two get their degrees. Also, there are very few role models. In Los Angeles, 64% of students are Latinos; only 12% of teachers are Latino. INDIALANTIC, Fla. Sam Kincheloe, 53, real estate agent: Low pay. The field is one where you may have a job today and not one tomorrow. In Florida, we're having a budget crisis, and a number of teachers have lost their jobs. Also, men do not have the training and background to deal with small children as much as women do. TOPIC - YUGOSLAVIA'S CIVIL WAR Alija Izetbegovic, 66, Muslim president of the war-torn former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, was interviewed by USA TODAY's Lee Michael Katz. WHAT WILL YOU SAY ABOUT THE NEED FOR U.S. INTERVENTION? I'm going to try to describe the complete situation to make it possible for President Bush to make his own conclusions on what should be done. Humanitarian relief is welcome, but not satisfactory. We need military help because this evil cannot be removed, cannot be won by anything else except force. We ourselves do not have that strength. WHAT DO YOU WANT PRESIDENT BUSH TO DO MILITARILY? From the very beginning, we were asking for the heavy artillery around our town to be removed. Huge amounts of heavy weaponry all over Bosnia and Herzegovina was left here by the JNA (the Yugoslavian army). That artillery is being used for bombing not only Sarajevo, but other towns in the republic. JNA doesn't want to withdraw their weapons. The only way to proceed with that would be to destroy it from the air by a bombardment from the air by the United States or by the United Nations. IS ENOUGH HUMANITARIAN AID GETTING THROUGH? Humanitarian relief is arriving regularly, it's very helpful. We have still have those who are starving in some parts of town because the quantities which have come so far are not enough. But you know, it's related only to Sarajevo and Sarajevo is not the worse case in Bosnia. There are much worse cases in the republic. Issues & Debate Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM