If You Can't Lick 'Em ...

IT WAS A CLASSIC APPLICATION OF THE ADVICE "IF you can't lick 'em, join 'em." Recognizing that with Bill Clinton's victory, the momentum toward national health-care reform is becoming unstoppable -- and that insurance companies are widely regarded as an iniquitous special interest fighting on the wrong side -- the Health Insurance Association of America reversed its long-standing opposition and brought forth its own plan. Features: through a combination of (unspecified) tax incentives and penalties, the government would require that a standard package of benefits be made available to everybody, including the 35 million Americans who have no coverage now. The feds would help define that package and eventually force standardization of amounts paid by private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid; to help pay the cost, workers would be taxed on above-standard benefits provided by employers. George Stephanopolous, Clinton's communications director, hailed the reversal as a "real breakthrough."