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Chapter 19 -
Archives of Headlines
State or Provincial Health Organizations,
Resources and Services
White House Announces Grants for Community
Substance Abuse Prevention. President Clinton announced Saturday (Sept. 12, 1998)
the allocation of $8.7 million in new funding to help local programs seeking to prevent
young people from abusing drugs or using tobacco or alcohol.In his weekly radio address,
the President said the money will go to 93 communities, including Atlanta, Los Angeles,
Chicago and Miami.
Drug czar Barry McCaffrey said the grants will fund programs that bring together young
people, parents, media, law enforcement, school officials and religious organizations. The
idea, according to McCaffrey, will target the use of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
McCaffrey said in a statement: "Community coalitions are the heart and
soul of drug prevention. Groups like the Boys and Girls Clubs, the Elks, the Lions, YMCA,
100 Black Men, Big Brother-Big Sister and other mentoring leaders, are examples of the
organizations we need to support through coalitions."
President Bill Clinton announced a new regulation that gives 120 million Americans
enrolled in private employer-based health care programs the right to a quick appeal of
grievances. August 29, 1998. In his weekly radio address, the President announced
the order, which affects people covered under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act, which regulates pension operations and other job benefit plans. "There
ought to be an appeal of a medical decision made by an accountant all the way up the chain
in a company until it gets to a doctor. People who are hurt ought to have redress,"
President Clinton said. "We have worked very hard to make
these protections available to everyone we could. Today, we'll take executive action once
again," he added. "More than 120 million Americans are in workplace health plans
that are protected under federal law," he said. "The secretary of labor has now
been instructed to ensure that all these people can quickly appeal through an internal
review process any coverage decision that denies the care their doctor said was needed and
appropriate." The President said his order -- which has to go through the standard
federal regulation process but which is not subject to congressional approval -- would
help prevent some of the worst abuses. Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) have been
pointed to as the worst offenders. "Many of these stories we hear about, the HMO
actually ultimately approves the treatment the doctor recommended," the President
said. "But only after it goes through layer after layer after layer and sometimes
there is no appeal at all." He said he was trying to speed
up the process. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are offering competing versions of a
patients bill of rights. The President says the Republican plan does not offer the
guarantees he is most worried about -- the right to emergency room care, the right to see
a specialist and the right not to have to switch primary care practitioners suddenly if an
employer changes plans.
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