The Nation - News from Feb. 15, 1987

President Reagan urged support of his plan for catastrophic illness insurance, saying that elderly Americans need such protection, but Montana Sen. John Melcher, the Democratic chairman of the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, criticized Reagan’s proposal as inadequate. In his weekly radio address, Reagan, speaking from Camp David, Md., said that “catastrophic illness can strike anyone--the old, the young, the middle-aged,” and urged that his plan, based on expansion of Medicare, be adopted. Most people covered by Medicare are 65 or older, and Melcher said long-term medical care at home and in convalescent hospitals should also be covered.