Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current, February 04, 1977, Image 1
A-Victoria flu type confirmed in Florida 4. ! I , ’I I * i ’ "'Z 1 ■ » 1 ; * ! 1 4 t 111 li ri < . 4. Ml II I *«»*-• 4b- 111 II 11 .... ' I I I I. I | . , ; k„ u? *.-*> •■r h If **rr.'"•■* *-— ~ —■ ■ *-■ ~' e .-*“♦; «* -.***« »*.«■»"-«• 7*' .7~* - ;..» » " ■ *~ • ’<*»■** - imWB». -* ~ Jw* *<W •&'*“"'■ : -» ■ * *■ ' f> Making comeback Sen. Barker out after dishonest auto mechanics Paying uncovered med bills running up cost of insurance WASHINGTON (AP) — Two major health insurance plans pay out millions of dollars for government workers’ medical expenses not covered by their insurance policies, contributing to spiraling premiums partly paid by the taxpayers, a government report says. An investigation by the General Accounting Office concluded that loose, haphazard cost controls and overpayments by the two govemment- The Country Parson by Frank Clark Ovßr — “If God thought riches were important he wouldn’t have gjvMi them to so few.” DAliy Daily Since 1872 John Harris, Rick and Will Young reenact the 1900 glider flight of the Wright Brothers at Jockey Ridge, N.C. The feat will be part of a forthcoming National Aeronautics and Space Administration film, “Flight: Look To the Sky.” (AP) wide health insurers co; ibuted to a35 per cent increase in premium charges in the government programs last year. The two companies probed by government auditors are Blue Cross- Blue Shield and Aetna Life & Casualty, which together insure more than six million of the 9.3 million federal employes and their dependents who have health insurance. “Prices may continue skyward if the Civil Service Commission and the insurance carriers do not strictly control insurance costs,” said the report, signed by U.S. Comptroller General Elmer B. Staats, chief of the congressional watchdog agency. Blue Cross-Blue Shield called the report “exaggerated and misleading” and said it is based on often erroneous assumptions. Aetna said it appreciated an opportunity to study the findings and agreed to make several changes aimed at tightening controls. The government and its employes share almost equally the premium costs, estimated at $2.9 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The payment practices criticized by the GAO generally benefit employes GRIFFIN Griffin, Ga., 30223, Friday Afternoon, February 4,1977 ATLANTA (AP) — Everybody’s heard plenty of stories about car repair fraud, says state Sen. Ed Barker. “You go to a gas station restroom, then come back and the guy is standing there saying, ‘Sir, did you know you had a hole in your tire?’ “You’ve got a hole all right, but he put it there,” Barker said Thursday. Then there’s the one about the S3OO bill for repair of an auto air conditioner that only needed a new fuse, he said. Emphasizing that he doesn’t want to tar honest auto mechanics with the brush he’s aiming at cheaters, the Warner Robins legislator introduced the “Motorist Protection Act of 1977" Thursday, laying ground rules for car repairs in Georgia. The Senate’s Consumer Affairs Committee quickly set a public hearing for Monday on the bill, which would prohibit giving false information on which repairs are needed and which have been performed. The bill also would require mechanics to give estimates of repair who incur medical expenses and use their health insurance, although all employes pay in the end through the increased premiums. The loser is the taxpayer who, in the final analysis, pays the government’s share of the costs and gets none of the benefits. The investigation only applied to the government employes’ plans. The study did not attempt to determine whether similar practices occur in pri vate group health plans sold by Blue Cross-Blue Shield and Aetna. Cost controls are a central issue in the debate over national health insurance, which President Carter has promised to implement during his administration. The two government health plans now operating — Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor — are regularly criticized for their ever increasing costs. Based on a poll of 373 employes, the investigators said Blue Shield may have paid more than $8 million to doctors and hospitals for routine physi cal examinations and Pap smears for cervical cancer, neither of which is supposed to be covered by the Blue Cross-Blue Shield policy. NEWS ATLANTA (AP) — An outbreak of A- Victoria influenza has been confirmed in a nursing home in Dade County, Fla., the national Center for Disease Control reported today. The outbreak began Jan. 26, and affected 35 of 176 residents of the home, the CDC said. There have been scattered laboratory isolations of Influenza A in several other states, but this is the first out break of that strain of flu in the nation, the CDC said. Influenza-like illness has been reported in more than a score of states, with Influenza B identified in at least 10 of them. Influenza B usually attacks children and young adults and is similar to the B-Hong Kong virus which was prevalent in 1972. The mortality rate of Influenza B is lower than Influenza A, which changes its molecular structure more often and tends to attack older adults. The CDC says an outbreak is considered when there is a marked increase in the number of patients in a given population. In the A-Victoria outbreak in Florida, epidemiologists said the typical clinical illness was fairly mild with fever and cough the predominate symptoms. costs—when requested by customers— and then keep their charges within 10 per cent of those estimates. “I’m sure we’ll hear some opposition at the public hearing, but I don’t think the bill is overbearing on anybody,” Barker said. “There are no new regulatory boards or required registration,” he said. “It won’t cost honest mechanics any money at all.” Barker said a study by the federal government and the University of Georgia indicates that nearly one-third of the $1 billion in auto repair work in Georgia each year “is unnecessary or improperly completed.” What the bill aims to do, Barker said, is allow the state Office of Consumer Affairs “ to zero in on the fraudulent kind of places.” That office already has some en forcement powers under the state’s Fair Business Practices Act, but Barker said, “If you expect your repair to cost SSO and it costs S2OO, under the present law there isn’t much you can People ••• and things Man in lift truck drawing crowd of spectators at Hill and Taylor streets. Carter members of the Utility Club, organized in 1927, taking bows during Follies intermission. Businessman shucking sweater as temperature climbed. Gilmore T shirts kick up storm AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — “Let’s Do It” reads the T shirt — the last words of executed murderer Gary Gilmore. And 23-year-old entrepreneur James K. Bozony says he can’t keep up with demand for the $5.95 shirts, also emblazoned with a bullseye target over the heart. “The fact that the execution became an event is a reflection of our taste as a culture. That’s what is really absurd, not the shirts,” said Bozony, a University of Massachusetts graduate student and writer who says he specializes in black humor. “Some call it sick, some say I’m disgusting for ex ploiting Gilmore,” he said. “I don’t think those people are as healthy psychologically as the people who buy them, or at least stop to talk about them. Bozony said he has sold 50 of his shirts at the University of Massachusetts student center here since last week and now plans “big-time production and marketing,” in cluding advertisements in publications like National Lampoon magazine. But Bozony also said he faces possible legal problems with Lawrence Schiller, the freelance journalist who Vol. 105 No. 29 Bl \mW z / // ■ *• " ' li 11 frj'jKWT <> xw V as lf/‘ 7 Jx i fit f BXj fjfll * f Bk wfiH irirt/m i rrfdC ’ 'cT 1 7 i f —fIBSB z Fewer people seeking jobs WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation’s unemployment rate declined sharply in January to 7.3 per cent, down from 7.8 per cent in December, with the im provement largely attributed to an unexplained decline in the labor force, the government said today. Labor Department analysts said the severe winter weather across much of do.” The requirement of cost estimates would give Consumer Affairs Director Tim Ryles “something to lock in on,” he said. Violators of the proposed law would be given an opportunity for making good any overcharges or shoddy work, Barker said. But if they failed to do so, they could be liable for misdemeanor convictions or civil fines of $2,000 for each offense. The bill also provides for the possibility of court injunctions against mechanics or their employers and for fines of $25,000 for violation of those in junctions. The consumer affairs office receives hundreds of complaints by irate car owners, Barker said, but action against repair fraud has been difficult without the specifics the proposed law would provide. He said chances appear good for passage of the bill this session. Postage hikes cancelled WASHINGTON (AP) - The Postal Service is going to cancel its plans to increase mail rates this year because of improvement in the agency’s financial picture, postal sources say. The sources said Thursday the Postal Service is preparing to announce within a few days that it operated in the black during the last three months of 1976. That will mark the second successive John Cook (r) who stands a little less than four feet tall is making it as a bank employee in Barnesville. Here he talks with Joe Bostwick, assistant vice president. Photo essay on page 7 today. signed contracts giving him rights to Gilmore’s life story. “He claims he can sue. We say baloney to that. We’re willing to agree to terms that give monies to the families of Gilmore’s victims only, but I don’t think Schiller deserves a cent of it,” Bozony said Thursday in a telephone interview. Schiller controlled nearly all access to Gilmore before last month’s execution by a Utah State Prison firing squad. Gilmore, the first person executed in the United States in nearly a decade, was convicted of murdering a man during a robbery and accused of a murder during a second robbery. Bozony describes the shirt design as a work of pop art. “It’s ridiculous to conceive of a Gary Gilmore T-shirt in the first place,” he said. “The only thing more ridiculous is buying it.” Some who pass by Bozony’s sales table conclude he is against capital punishment, but he said he favors it in. some cases — including Gilmore’s. “If ever a man deserved to die, it was Gary Gilmore,” he said. “I’m afraid he lost his value as a human being a long time ago.” Weather ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY 60, low today 31, high yesterday 57, low yesterday 28, high tomorrow in mid 40s, low tonight in upper 20s. FORECAST: Partly cloudy tonight. Windy and turning colder Saturday. He’s making it the nation may be partially responsible for the decline in the labor force. But they said the full impact of the weather on the nation’s job markets probably won’t show up until the job figures for February are compiled. Government estimates of the number of Americans forced out of work by the weather range as high as 1.5 million, but nobody knows for sure. cJI I? quarter with a surplus after a deficits for every quarter since 1972. Before the improvement in the agency’s finances, Postal Service of ficials had plans to raise rates by the fall of this year from 13 cents to 16 or 17 cents for a first-class letter. But sources say the unexpected cash surpluses mean a rate increase will not be sought this year.