AIDS Panelists May Propose New Health Agency

As the presidential AIDS commission prepares to complete its final report next week, several of its members are expected to propose creating a new department that would deal solely with health issues, now under jurisdiction of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Commission member Burton Lee, who proposed the idea, said in an interview that he believes a separate department would enable a secretary of health to function more effectively, particularly during a public health emergency such as the AIDS epidemic.

In addition, Lee proposed that the National Institutes of Health be made a separate federal agency with its own budget. “Cutting loose NIH would get it out from under the red tape that hampers any research operation,” he said.

If accepted by the entire commission, such a recommendation would replace a controversial health emergency plan proposed by Adm. James D. Watkins, the commission’s chairman, that would give strong powers to the surgeon general in times of a public health crisis.

Lee believes that the nation’s health care system needs broader reforms than those proposed by Watkins. “Jim thinks it needs changing for a public health emergency. I think it needs changing--period,” he said.

He said that four commissioners--himself, Watkins, Richard DeVos and Colleen Conway-Welch--met Wednesday with a small group of top officials of the National Institutes of Health, including those involved in AIDS research, and “came away convinced” that the institutes would be more productive and efficient as a separate federal agency. Such a proposal would require congressional action.

Lee added, however, that it is unclear whether Watkins would accept the plan as a substitute for his own proposal.

The emergency response plan devised by Watkins, which he described as “my own personal idea,” was released without consultation with the other 12 commissioners. It would increase the authority of the surgeon general when the President declares a national public health emergency, making him the nation’s official spokesman and policy-maker in dealing with that issue. Critics have charged that the plan would make the surgeon general a health “czar.”

The commission is expected to call for stronger federal anti-discrimination legislation to protect AIDS patients and those infected with the AIDS virus, including extending existing statutes to cover the private sector. Commission members are scheduled to meet, for the last time, on June 16 and 17 to vote on the final report, which is to be presented to the White House on or before June 24.