Tucson Daily Citizen (Newspaper) - February 10, 1977, Tucson, Arizona 2PM STOCKS VOL 107 NO 35 2PM STOCKS PAGE TUCSON ARIZONA THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10 1977 56 PAGES 15 OEMS In Mexico bribes go with death Los Angeles Times News Service In America it is the bribe In Mexico they call it mordida the bite It is so much a way of life that even the dead are not beyond the power of a peso Two Los Angeles Times reporters went to Tijuana re cently to check out complaints by Americans that they have had to pay bribes as much as to recover the bod ies of relatives who died south of the border The two reporters posed as a sister and brother search ing for a missing cousin They were accompanied by a Spa American mortuary employe who pretended to be a hired guide Two officials bribed After bribing a state police officier and a mortuary at tendant the two reporters were offered for a price the body of their cousin an unidentified derelict who had lain unclaimed in a mortuary for 29 days Their first stop had been the office of the state police where the pairs inquiries about their cousin were treated with indifference and disdain by a plainclothes investigator who abruptly dismissed their questions The second time around a short time later a different approach was used Seventy pesos about were passed in a handshake from the guide to a different cer who said Thanks Ill see what I can do The officer later slipped one of the bills to a fellow po who had witnessed the transaction Within a few seconds the officer had stacked the coun with investigation files and ledgers listing the citys dead over the past few months From the files and photographs of a fied dead the reporters identified one man as their cousin although the body bore no similarity to them in features coloring or nationality The reporters and their guide were courteously referred to a Tijuana mortuary where the body had been sent after being discovered in an alley Instead of a county coroner system Tijuana uses pri vate mortuaries as unofficial coroners on a rotating basis It is with them that the public must deal Although the dead mans forehead bore a large black bruise officials listed his cause of death as alcoholism which required no investigation Too busy to help At the mortuary the visiting trio was again met with indifference from an employe who said he was too busy to help them and besides the body wasnt there anyway The American mortician told the attendant Look you know how it is a few pesos here a few pesos there these people will pay it all right Yes fine answered the attendant Pocketing 50 pesos about slipped to him the mortuary employe found that he had overlooked the right man on his roster that the body was at that moment in the mortuarys refrigerated vault It is at this point that bereaved American families trying to recover the remains of a loved one often are at the mercy of the mordida One San Diego mortician said he handles up to 30 such cases each year and often encounters the same prob lems He said it is difficult to explain to grieving relatives that they must pay bribes to recover their kins bodies Even the US government reportedly has paid mordi da to retrieve the body of a Drug Enforcement Agency agent killed in Mexico A source in the mortuary business who was acquainted with the case said about in mordida was paid to bring back the agents body last year from deep in Mexico State GOP proposal Medicaid alternative offered By WILLIAM W ACTON Citizen Phoenix Bureau PHOENIX A plan to assure that every Arizonan is provided quality health care without calling on the federal government for help was unveiled by House Republican leaders today Proponents of the plan an alternative to state participation in the federal Medicaid program hope to convince enough to vote to repeal Medicaid to bring the repeal vote in the House to 40 the number required to override a gubernatorial veto The first tentative repeal vote was to be taken this afternoon Under the plan the individual counties would bear the brunt of the million The plan would also eventually bring catastrophic medical insurance to every resident of the state say its architects Reps Diane McCarthy and Richard Flynn Mrs McCarthy is chairman of the Health Committee Flynn a doctor is vice chairman The first part of the plan which soon will be introduced as a would every county to provide basic medical services for its indigent population Most counties now provide and pay for the services but the specific services arent mandat ed by state law Services include inpatient hospital services outpatient services laboratory and X rays skilled nursing for persons over 21 services by licensed health care professionals and tion drugs counties to provide optional health services including early screening and diagnosis for children six and younger eyecare dental care other than cosmetic and transportation services so the indigent can reach the health care Counties that elect to provide these services would receive state matching money Flynn and McCarthy estimated such matching money would cost the state a maximum of million the first year This cost would be the only state monetary contribution to the program intercounty agreements so that say an indigent in Ajo could receive care in Yuma instead of having to drive to Tucson Pima Coun ty would then reimburse Yuma County for the patients expenses that the states Emergency Medi cal Services EMS operation transport cal patients from outlying areas to metro areas for care they cant receive at small hospitals Now EMS transports only critically ill or injured patients The proposal would allow say cancer patients in Sells to be transported to Tucson for treatment when EMS isnt transporting critical patients up a statewide health education pro gram to convince mothers with children with temperature that they dont need to take the child to a hospital said of health care facilities has driven costs up Mrs McCarthy noted The second component of the Medicaid alter native one which is being designed with several major insurance companies would bring cata strophic medical insurance to every Arizonan Mrs McCarthy said It probably wont be imple until next year she added Negotiations are under way with Blue Cross Blue Shield and several other national health insurance carriers to start such a pilot program in Arizona she said Under the program two competing compa nies would construct identical insurance es and then try to peddle them on the open market she said Everyone regardless of the state of his or her health would be eligible We want to see if two identical programs offered by different companies at different rates maybe can compete with health maintenance organizations she said Insurance Director Jack Trimble will closely monitor the programs she said and the companies will be barred from raising rates to recoup any losses they incur The pilot program will be similar to the pro posed national health insurance but on a micro scopic scale she said Insurance companies say they can do the same thing national health insurance can but they havent had a place to prove it Arizona the only state without Medicaid is their only proving said Memos GOP program were sent today to Gov Raul H Castro and legislative leaders including opponents of Medicaid repeal We want to show them that a homegrown approach to quality medical care is better than any participation with Big Brother Mrs McCarthy said Medicaid is expected to cost coun ties about million the first year and escalate from there Its opponents says its implementa tion will bankrupt the state Medicaid was ap proved in 1974 but its funding and implementa tion was postponed twice If its not repealed it will go on line Aug 15 GOP House leaders however have vowed to refuse to fund it if repeal fails Zsa Zsa wows em Citizen Photo by Bruce Hopkins Zsa Zsa Gabor matron saint of Hollywood glamor popped up in Tucson yesterday to greet a sea of admirers most of whom were middleaged women She was at ery Ward store in El Con where she was plugging a give away promotion of a The event was advertising the Montgomery Ward auto club Be imaginative responsive Carter urges BC workers WASHINGTON AP Pres ident Carter is visiting Cabinet departments one by one en bureaucrats in hall ways offices cafeterias and auditoriums to be imaginative unafraid of change and more responsive to the people Carter set aside time today to walk to the Treasury next door to the White House to meet in the Cash Room with employes Lined with tellers cages until it was closed last summer the Cash Room was the Federal Reserve Systems last remaining bank that cashed checks Now an empty room with marble walls the Cash Room once turned checks into green backs and silver for govern ment workers and others It became known as a place where the poor with no bank accounts of their own could cash their welfare checks Like other banks of its kind across the country it was shut down as uneconomical The President arranged to ride from the Treasury to the Department of Housing and Urban Development where hundreds of workers were in to the cafeteria to hear him He also planned to visit several offices in the White House press secretary Jody Powell said Carter will tour every Cabinet department to see the people and to ex press his direct concerns Powell said there is RO cance to the order of the dents visits Carter went to the Labor Department yesterday Be aggressive dynamic and imagi native he told its employes I dont want any of you to be alraid of change I want an aggressive constant search for a better way to deliver servic es With Cabinet secretary Jack Watson in tow the President ventured first into the crannies No man is an island but you couldnt prove it by E Fry Ke and his township of Fry are surrounded by the City of Sierra Vista Sierra Vista isnt happy about it and Fry doesnt mince words when he indicates he isnt Hussein Another tragedy wife of Jordans King Hus sein whose life has been plagued by tragedy was killed in the crash of a military helicopter carrying her home from a hospital inspection Hurricane back to prison Rubin Hurricane Carter former middleweight boxer has been sentenced to life imprisonment for a second time for the murder of three men in a Paterson NJ tavern 11 years Classified Comics Crossword JC Editorial Financial Focus Ann Landers Movie Times 48 Pub Sports IB Weather Your Stars To Subscribe Call For Want Ads Caff 8894611 8895333 of the department entering with Secret Service agents through the basement taking an elevator to the second floor and greeting workers in the hallways He toured offices in the Poli cy Evaluation and Research Division then stepped into the main hallway Bureaucrats cheered whistled and shouted One man lifted a woman so she could see Men and women nulled and shoved to erah Cart ers hand or touch his sleeve Several women touched the hands of others who touched the President Jimmy Jimmy they shouted Mr President Mr President His bodyguards cleared a path to the departments marble lobby where Carter stepped onto a small stage Im glad to be here with you he told about 1000 work ers some of whom survey the unemployed and administer programs them I was unemployed until three weeks ago Carter said But now Ive got a good job The group cheered and applauded The President told the work ers not to fear his plans to reor the government No one will be fired he said His audi ence applauded The change should not affect you adverse ly Carter said If it ever does you contact me directly I mean that heading to So nice outside My wills diminished To sit here and get This poem fin Itll be tough tomorrow to keep office workers indoors Who wants to spend a winter day inside slaving over a type writer flow chart or ledger book when the skies are clear outside with the mercury in the The morning low tomorrow will be close to todays 41 the high maybe just a degree or two short of 70 Yesterdays high was 73 The pleasant temperatures may be accompanied by just a bit of high cloudiness Full weather report page Dunlap Robison plead innocent in Bolles killing PHOENIX UPI Max Dunlap and Jimmy Robison pleaded innocent today to murder charges in the combine death of investigative reporter Don Bolles The arraignment of the two took about three minutes The suspects in jail clothes spoke only once Each replied yes to affirm his identity in response to questions by Superior Court Judge Edward Rapp Rapp read statements saying a plea of not guilty would be entered for each He ordered motions in the case filed by March 22 and scheduled trial to begin April 11 before Judge A Melvin McDonald Defease attorneys said they had not decided whether to seek separate trials for Dunlap and Robison who were arrested Jan 5 on information provided by a third suspect John Adamson after he pleaded guilty to murder and agreed to testify for the prosecution Mystery gunshot kills Were partners he Were in this together said Ive been hit George W Wood shouted to his companion before falling to the ground at his Southwest Side mobile home Harry Trostle lifted the bleeding mechanic into a pickup truck and sped the 12 miles to St Marys Hos pital But Wood already was dead the victim of a mysterious gunshot at pm yesterday Sheriffs Sgt William Coen said investigators have no idea where the bullet came from But deputies said there have been a number of complaints from Tucson Mountains foot hills residents about target shooting in the area Wood lived at 4865 W Mos sman Road at the southern edge of the mountain range He and Trostle were working underneath a car when they heard a shooting noise Wood crawled out stood up to inves and was struck by a second shot Authorities believe the shots came from the north Investi gation is continuing Hospital rate limit pondered LA Times News Service WASHINGTON The Carter administration is considering a program for setting mandatory ceilings on hospital charges limiting them to a rate of in crease substantially below the recent rate of 15 per cent a year the Los Angeles Times has learned Advocates of the plan consid er it a necessary prelude to any form of the national health insurance promised by dent Carter in lus election campaign How can you get the gov involved in insurance until you get these control one administration aide asked The proposal being devel as part of Carters budget and legislative program for submission to Congress later this month could touch off the new administrations first major battle with powerful interest groups Advocates of the plan expect it to be attacked by hospital and physician associations and they fear some backers of na tional health insurance such as organized labor will be less than enthusiastic about the idea Between 1950 and 1976 the cost of a day in the hospital has climbed five times as fast as the general inflation rate reaching an average of last year up from in 1950 Under the plan being consid ered by administration the Department of Health Education and Welfare after consultation with an advisory board drawn from the health care industry would set a ceiling on the amount by which a hospitals average charge per admitted patient could rise each year For the first year of the pro gram administration officials have in mind setting the limit at around 10 per cent thereby cutting the current rate of in crease by about onethird In subsequent years the allowable rate of increase would be reduced still further If a hospitals costs rose by more than the permitted amount it would have to ab sorb the expense It would be up to the hospital to decide on measures for restraining costs Regional boards presumably with consumer representatives as well as those from the health care industry would rule on requests for exceptions Advocates of the pian believe they can square it with Carters pledge to avoid mandatory wage and price controls except in a national emergency Physicians fees would not be affected by the ceiling except where they traditionally had been included in hospital bills Carter administration met late yesterday to consider aspects of the plan including one possible problem how to dissuade hospitals from increasing the number of pa they admit as a way of getting around a ceiling based on cost per admitted patient
