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PAGE 2—The Southern Cross, March 2,1972
BETTER CHECK FIRST
Buying Mail-Order
Health Insurance?
BY
MSGR. HARROLD A. MURRAY
(NC News Service)
What is the most important thing to
consider in purchasing a health insurance
policy? It is to know exactly what you
are buying, suggests the Health Affairs
Department of the U.S. Catholic
Conference in Washington.
Sound simple? Too often, according to
the department, Americans do not know
what they have purchased. For instance,
how much do you know about health
insurance currently being advertised in
newspapers, radio and televison or
through direct mail solicitations?
Usually, for a relatively low price,
these plans offer to “fill in the gaps” in
your present coverage. Many are designed
especially for senior citizens over 65. If
you’re fully aware of what you are
buying, this insurance can be worthwhile.
But if you’re not sure on some points,
you may find out later that the insurance
does not, in reality, pay for some things
you mistakenly thought it did.
For that reason, the department has
prepared the following guidelines that
should be considered before you buy. For
instance, you should make certain you
understand:
--What happens if you have any
“pre-existing” health conditions?
-How much will your policy pay per
day?
-Any limitations on when you can
collect?
-How much you are required to pay in
premiums?
It is important to consider that, while
excluding a physical examination, most
mail-order policies have some special
limitations on benefits for pre-existing
health conditions. Most policies, for
example, have a two-year waiting period
before you can collect on pre-existing
conditions whether you knew about them
or not.
Another important point is not to
allow yourself to be high pressured by
“limited enrollment periods.” While it is
correct that many companies do mass
processing of applicants and do set a time
limit, this should not keep you from
asking and getting answers to all your
questions before you buy. The important
thing is to have the company satisfy your
questions before the “limited
enrollment” period is over.
And before signing up for any
mail-order insurance, first get a copy of
the policy and study it so that you fully
understand its limitations. Remember,
too, most mail-order policies do not pay
out-of-hospital benefits, so you should
know how much these policies will pay
per day. And keep in mind that the
average hospital stay for a person under
65 is about eight days; for over 65 it’s
about 13 days. Also, there may be a
waiting period before benefits start.
Other tips to consider before buying
include:
-Don’t buy insurance if you don’t
need it. This means check your existing
coverage against what an illness or
accident could cost. (Average hospital
room rates in some of our big cities
exceed $100 daily. Your policy will tell
you what your insurance pays per day).
-Check with your state Insurance
Department to see if a mail-order offer is
from a company licensed to sell insurance
in your state - and whether that
company is financially sound. At the
same time, you can ask the state
Insurance Department any questions
about an advertisement that you don’t
fully understand.
-Always shop around. Perhaps your
regular insurance agent can offer a better
way. Show him the offer and ask him if
he’s competitive.
(Msgr. Murray, a priest of the Newark, N.J.,
archdiocese, is director of the USCC
Department of Health Affairs in Washington,
D.C.)
NEAR-SLAVERY IN BRAZIL
They Owe Their Souls
To The Company Store
TEFE, Brazil (NC) — The bishop and
priests of this mission territory deep in
the Amazon forest have suspended
religious services for rubber plantation
owners, pending improvement of
near-slave conditions of their workers.
“For a long time we tried to open (the
owners’) hearts to their obligation of
social justice, but to no avail,” said
Bishop Joaquim de Lange, who heads the
independent prelature of Tefe.
In addition to halting Masses and the
administration of the sacraments for the
owners, “we are preparing a documented
report on the living conditions of the
workers,” the bishop added.
The report will deal with forced labor
in remote areas for long periods, high
prices in stores controlled by the
FREES 100
“Angel Of
Porters”
QUITO, Ecuador (NC) — A nun who
organized a union for this city’s 2,000
porters discovered that some of them had
been “jailed” by their boss.
Sister Genoveva Rodriguez of the
Colombian Laurita Sisters found that
many of the porters - mostly poor
Indians who have come here from
impoverished rural areas - were
practically slaves of a few bosses who
control jobs at hotels and railroad
stations.
One of the bosses, Luis Cornelio
Chavez, punished porters who refused to
kick back part of their meager earnings
by throwing them into his own “jail,” an
abandoned building belonging to
Ecuador’s Welfare ministry.
Sister Genoveva gathered enough
evidence to bring in the police, who in
January raided the “jail,” freed 100
porters and put Chavez in a real prison.
plantation owners and the lack of medical
care.
Dutch-born Bishop de Lange said that
rubber plantation owners who said they
are Catholics had once promised to heed
the priests’ pleas for social justice.
“But all we did was turn our backs and
the promises were gone. Preaching to
these people is useless,” he added.
News of the action taken by Tefe’s 85
priests and the bishop reached the outside
world through two social workers, Clara
Sliva and Marilia Meneses, who returned
to Manaus some 500 miles down the
Amazon river after a tour of the territory.
Tefe, located on the banks of the large
Amazon tributary, the Solimoes river,
lacks rapid communications facilities. It
can be reached only by boat or by
chartered plane. The Tefe prelature has
about 85,000 inhabitants, most of them
Catholic.
The Brazilian government is building a
trans-Amazor highway in efforts to open
up new frontier lands and to connect
isolated communities.
The Brazilian Bishops’ Conference is
backing Bishop de Lange’s study of
conditions among rubber workers in
order to pressure the government to
intervene on their behalf.
In recent weeks a Church commission
made a study trip through the chain of 24
prelatures in the Amazon river basin. The
group, headed by Archbishop Alberto
Gaudencio Ramos of Belem, later
conferred at length with government
officials in Brasilia, the nation’s capital.
Church sources said the group’s oral
report was followed by strong requests
that the harsh practices on the
plantations - often condoned by local
politicians - be stopped.
Late last year, after issuing a pastoral
condemning land barons in the Matte
Grosso region for the subhuman
conditions in which they kept their
farmworkers, Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga of
Sao Felix in Araguaia state was charged
with subversion and arrested by local
authorities. He was released after the
bishops’ conference gave wide circulation
to his pastoral letter and sent a delegation
to confer with federal authorities in
Brasilia.
PRESS CHIEF
China Visit
No Surprise
VATICAN CITY (NC) — China and the
United States really wanted to get
together more than 20 years ago but were
hampered by the Korean and Vietnam
wars, according to a columnist in the
Vatican’s weekly newspaper.
Federico Alessandrini, chief press
spokesman for the Vatican and a regular
contributor to the weekly L’Osservatore
della Domenica, said in the Feb. 27 issue
that he was therefore not surprised at all
by President Nixon’s historic visit to
China.
Alessandrini recalled that, almost 16
years to the day that Nixon and Mao
Tse-tung met, he had predicted in the
Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano,
that China would need aid from capitalist
nations if she was ever to become an
industrial power.
The Vatican journalist said that early
in 1950 President Truman announced an
open-door policy toward China to
promote trade. The Korean war broke
out soon after.
Alessandrini quoted Mao, as saying in
1949:
“It is impossible to go it alone. Trade
with other parts of the world is desirable,
once there is broken down the internal
and external reaction which impedes it.
Even Nixon’s message to Congress on
Feb. 8, in which the President said the
United States sought a detente with both
Russia and China to form a worldwide
peace, was not news to Alessandrini.
“Considered in the light of the political
reality of recent years, he was not saying
anything new,” Alessandrini contended.
Alessandrini had a note of caution,
however.
Granted the fact that Nixon was trying
to reassure the world when he said no
nation need fear the new relations
between the United States and China,
Alessandrini observed that when one tries
to please everyone, “there is the danger
that one pleases no one.” His inference
was that the Soviet Union might have
reasons to fear a new alliance between
China and the United States, but
Alessandrini did not say who might
suffer.
The Vatican journalist stated, however,
that all nations feared any use of nuclear
weapons of destruction.
“If anyone were to use them, even
though with delusions of defending
themselves, that nation would strike ou
at itself as well as the whole world and
enemy,” he said.
its
REGULAR SEASON AND TROPHY WINNERS - The girls basketball team from Blessed Sacrament school (top) aie shown
receiving trophy for first place in the Savannah Parochial League tournament from John Shearouse, Grand Knight of Savannah
Council 631, Knights of Columbus, who sponsored both the tourney and the League. Player second from left (back row) holds
trophy emblamatic of first place in regular season play. LOWER PHOTO shows St. James boys, 1st place winners of both regular
season and tournament play. Here, they receive tourney trophy from Mr. Shearouse, while player in front row displays regular
season first place cup.
Predicting the ascendancy of China
over Russia as the leader in the
Communist world, Alessandrini further
predicted an increase in Communist
activities in other countries. He did not
elaborate.
SAV. BASKETBALL
T ourney
Results
St. James boys and Blessed Sacrament
girls, winners of their respective divisions
during regular season play in Savannah
Parochial League basketball, also walked
off with top honors in the weekend
tournament held Feb. 26 and 27.
YOUR SAVANNAH
REPRESENTATIVE
JULIAN HALLIGAN
INSURANCE
HALLIGAN BUILDING
PHONE 233-4792
Stephens Tire
Company
Distributors for U.S. Royal
Tires Recapping — Front End
and Brake Service—Batteries
GEO. W. STEPHENS
PHONE 234-5144
LIBERTY &
MONTGOMERY STREETS
PHILIP BATASTINI
TAILORS —CLEANERS
407 - 1 2th ST. FA 2-5900
COLUMBUS
AUTO REPAIRS
Savannah Radiator
315 West Bay Street
Savannah, Georgia
Tourney play found St. James boys
facing a strong quintet from Sacred Heart
in the finals. The win went to St. James
33-24.
Savannah
Glass & Appliance Co.
Auto Glass
Full Line of Home
Appliances & Service Dept.
234-0618 227 West Harris
Savannah, Ga.
Beytagh
Construction Co.
RESIDENTIAL
REMODELING
LIGHT COMMERCIAL
1537 Montgomery Crossroads
EL 4-3556 — Savannah. Ga.
Blessed Sacrament girls earned the
tournament first place trophy by besting
Nativity 22-10.
Columbus" Finest In Fashion
KIRALFY’S
DOWNTOWN AND COLUMBUS SQUARE
In other tournament play, Cathedral
girls wrested third place from St. James
34-32. Third place in the boys division of
tourney play went to Blessed Sacrament,
who turned on the heat during the second
half of the consolation game to win going
away from Cathedral 56-34.
ED SCHR0EDERS
Music Studios
INSTRUCTION ON
Spanish Guitar
Hawaiian Steel Guitar
Clarinet Drums Violin
Siring Bass Banjo Sax
Trumpet Trombone
Inttrumentt For Sale
Trade Or Heat
REPAIRS A SERVICE
232-4747
SAVANNAH, GA. n w. liberty
Johnnie Ganem
Steak Ranch
CHARCOAL BROILED STEAKS
PRIME STEAKS
DINNERS - LUNCHEON
COCKTAILS
DINNER MUSIC
Gaston and Habersham
Kathy Kelly of St. James led all
tournament scorers with a three-game
total of 47 points. Close behind was
Charlie Mangan of Blessed Sacrament
with 45.
FLOWERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS
Richardson Florists Inc.
1220 WHEATON
232-3158
SAVANNAH, GA.
Twenty six players from the seven
teams participating in the tournament
broke into the scoring column. St. James
placed six on the scoring rolls, followed
closely by Blessed Sacrament with five.
All Cathedral scoring was done by four
players. Three players apiece accounted
for all scoring by the Sacred Heart, St.
Mary and Nativity teams. Two players
from St. Michael, which only played one
game 1 scored all their points.
FIRST BANK OF SAVANNAH
Now A Full Service
Commercial Bank
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Bull & York Streets
vn
MEDICAL Ov
HOME
• RN Living on Premises
• Semi-Privafe Rooms
• Special Diets
• NURSES ON DUTY
24 HOURS A DAY
ACCOMODATIONS FOR 31 PAT.ENTS
• PLANNED SOCIALS
• TV IN EVERY ROOM
• CHORUS & CHURCH SERVICE WEEKLY
ADMINISTRATOR—CHARLES VON WALDNER
SUPERVISOR-MRS. TINA VON WALDNER, R.N.
• Indiviidual Care • Catholic Management
REGULAR STAFF WITH CHIEF OF STAFF
S60V sk IDA WAY RD. PHONE 354-2752 SAVANNAH