U.S. Considers Serious Illness Coverage for All

The Reagan Administration is considering health insurance to cover catastrophic illnesses for all Americans, not just elderly people on Medicare, the government’s top health officer said Wednesday.

In testimony before a House subcommittee, Health and Human Services Secretary Otis R. Bowen outlined the scope of a study ordered by President Reagan in his Feb. 4 State of the Union address.

The study, being conducted by Bowen’s department in conjunction with the White House Domestic Council, will consider ways of “satisfying catastrophic care for the Medicare age group.”

Nursing Home Care

Long-term nursing home care for the elderly also will be considered, Bowen said, adding: “I have a mother who has been in a nursing home for over a year. I am acutely aware of that because I know who pays the bills.”

Catastrophic illnesses that strike other age groups also will be part of the study, he said. As an example, Bowen cited premature births that often require underweight newborns to be hospitalized for many weeks or months.

“We will be looking into all of those,” Bowen said.

The secretary, however, offered few specifics about the study.

In his State of the Union speech, Reagan alluded to a broad proposal for government and private insurers to pay for the treatment of catastrophic illness.

First Glimpse of Plan

Bowen’s testimony Wednesday to the health and long-term care subcommittee of the House Select Aging Committee provided the first glimpse of the Administration’s work on the issue since Reagan’s speech.

HHS spokesman Chuck Kline declined to elaborate on Bowen’s testimony, except to say that the secretary “was trying to emphasize that catastrophic health insurance in its broadest implication can be a problem affecting the very youngest to the very oldest.”

“I think the feeling is that the President wants a broad look at it,” Kline said.

Rep. Claude Pepper (D-Fla.), chairman of the subcommittee, told Bowen that he hoped the department “will study comprehensive coverage, not just (for) those who might be able to stay longer in the hospital.”

Bowen told the committee that he also favored a so-called individual medical account, similar to an individual retirement account, that would allow people to put away money in a tax-deferred account to cover medical costs when they get older.