Open Secrets

EVERY MAJOR INITIATIVE OF THE CLINTON WHITE House is preceded by a torrent of leaks testing public reaction. The health-care reform program is being billed as the most fundamental change in domestic policy since the Social Security Act of 1935. So the leaks are becoming a flood. Examples: the Administration wants to ensure generous coverage for mental illness, and it is considering price controls to hold down the costs of extending medical coverage to those not now insured. Options include a short-term freeze on prices charged by doctors, hospitals, laboratories and nursing homes, and a cap on insurance- premium increases. In addition, Hillary Rodham Clinton, head of the health- care task force, told members of Congress that a tax might be imposed on benefits provided by employers to workers in excess of some basic package -- a proposal she had earlier disavowed. Finally, the Administration accepts the idea of rationing health services. It approved an Oregon plan to extend Medicaid to those not now getting it, recouping the cost by no longer reimbursing treatment for conditions that clear up by themselves (e.g., the common cold) or that afflict only a few people and involve heavy expense for a doubtful outcome -- for example, some liver transplants.