Official says Nebraska will monitor health plan By Steve Smith Senior Reporter Nebraskans’ voices need to be heard in Washington as the United States moves toward universal health care, Lt. Gov. Kim Robak said Tues day. So far, state officials arc keeping active in the health care reform pro cess, she said. “We’re reading and monitoring the plan to see that our state is not dis proportionately hurt by (a potential health care) plan,” Robak said. “We want to make sure Nebraska won’t hurt more than anyone else docs.” If the state were at a disadvan tage, Robak said, Nebraska would work with smaller states to make sure damaging parts of the plan were de feated. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t hap pen,” she said. “We’U let Congress know what’s happening.” Robak addressed a gathering of state, county and city government officials during Gov. Ben Nelson’s Summit on Government Efficiency. The day-long conference drew near ly 200 officials from across the state and focused on health care, educa tion and economic development. Coordinating Nebraska health-care reform with President Clinton’s fed eral proposal made the property tax issue “look like cake,” she said. Robak said the federal government spent $838.5 billion on health care in 1992, which consisted of 14 percent of the nation’s gross national prod uct. If current trends continue, health care will make up 19 percent of the GNP by the year 2000, she said. In 1980, Nebraska spent $110 mil lion dollars on Medicaid, Robak said. In 1990, that number bulged to $300 million. Unless significant changes are made on health care, the state will spend $600 million on Medicaid next year, she said. “These statistics are just amazing to me,” Robak said. Robak said Nebraskans’ fears con cerning Clinton’s plan were justified. “Many of you have a fear of what’s to come,” she said. “You’re wonder ing, will I pay more and get less?” Robak cited a recent poll that said 60 percent of Americans believed they would pay more and get less if a health care package was pushed through Congress. The responses from the survey, however, show Americans have a strong concern with health care re form, she said. “People care about health care. They’re afraid and for a good rea son,” she said. The lieutenant governor said Ne braskans needed to make sure they were satisfied with whatever plan Congress passed. “We must make sure Nebraska is fit with the solution, and that it doesn’t work with just big states like Texas, California and Florida,” Robak said. Continued awareness in Nebraska is needed for positive results, she said. “There arc lots of things (Nebras kans) need to watch,” Robak said. “We need to make sure we’re heard in Washington.” Robak admitted she hadn’t fin ished reading the 1,400-plus pages of the proposal, which will create 59 new federal programs, issue 79 man dates and bring substantial changes in the tax code. The proposal’s density and tech nical language make it difficult to understand, Robak said. “There’s a tremendous amount of confusion out there,” she said. “I don’t know how the average person ... can understand what’s going on with this.” UNL’s image tarnished Spamer worries about incidents By Jody Holzworth Staff Reporter Reports of a recent hazing inci dent and an assault will lower UNL’s image among prospective students, Chancellor Graham Spanier said Tuesday at an Academic Senate meet ing. _ Jeff Knoll, a freshman from Ogallala, fell last Wednesday from a third-floor win dow at the Phi QPNATP Gamma Delta |,Jp fraternity house. University offi cials said Knoll was hazed before the accident. Boon-Chung “Marco” Ong, a jun ior marketing major from Malaysia, was beaten and kicked in the head outside the Nebraska Union on Oct. 17. Spanier said questions about inci dents such as these were among the most-asked by high school students deciding where to attend college. “This does not help the universi ty’s image,” Spanicr said. “We will continue to pay attention to such con cerns in the future.” The university will work to pre vent similar incidents from happen ing, he said. Spanicr said that in the Ong as sault, however, the university couldn’t have prevented the beating directly. A “few individuals acted in a very inappropriate way," he said. The university also will work to end hazing, he said. Spanier said hazing was not toler ated at UNL. “Hazing has no place in a univer sity like ours,” he said. Spanier said he was impressed with the Interfraternity Council’s co operation to end it. But he said the recent hazing epi sode was an exception to the usual behavior of greek members. Spanier said he generally was im pressed with the about- 1,000 Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln students involved in the greek system. In other business, the senate dis cussed the ongoing issue of adding a separate engineering college at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Outside consultants are studying the feasibility of adding the college, said Stan Liberty, dean of UNL’s College of Engineering and Tech nology. Omaha industry needs are greater than what UNO’s present engineer ing program can meet, Liberty said. However, Liberty said the UNO program wasn’t the only one with needs. The University of Nebraska sys tem needs more funding for engi neering, he said. The lack of resourc es in Omaha is symptomatic of the entire system, he said. Liberty said his main concern with adding the college was that it would increase the fierce competition for scarce resources and dilute the quali ty of engineering education in Ne braska. Liberty said it was not feasible to reallocate UNL funds to create the UNO college because its cost would be “fairly substantial.” Dick Buhman, a UNO engineer ing professor, said UNO’s funding needs often were ignored, while UNL’s needs were met. “There is a strong advocacy prob lem,” Buhman said. “The needs of the UNO faculty have not been met.” Because of the lack of funding at UNO, the number of faculty mem bers has decreased, he said. Students also can no longer get an industrial or general engineering degree there, he said. Travis Heying/DN Mirror image Matt Auch Moedy, a junior fine arts major, takes a closer look at himself while painting his self-portrait Tuesday afternoon in Andrews Hall. mi ■ WVn no o on / ♦" o r