Headlines
1. Hopefuls tend to understate the threat to Social Security
2. Akron floating plan to lease sewer system
3. Taking Va. lottery private discussed
4. Aggressive shilling of private plans in lieu of Medicare points up systemic ills – Editorial
5. NY: Levy pushes to close Suffolk County’s nursing home

News Summaries
1. Hopefuls tend to understate the threat to Social Security
McCain told The Wall Street Journal on March 3 that "as part of Social
Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of
it — along the lines that President Bush proposed." Houston Chronicle
2. Akron floating plan to lease sewer system
In his annual State of the City address on Feb. 7, Mayor Don
Plusquellic proposed selling the city’s sewer system to pay for
scholarships for Akron’s public high school graduates to the University
of Akron or to trade schools. Akron Beacon Journal
3. Taking Va. lottery private discussed
The odds of winning the Virginia Lottery may be better than chances that
the state turns it over to private business. Richmond Times-Dispatch
4. Aggressive shilling of private plans in lieu of Medicare points up systemic ills
The federal government’s landmark program to guarantee health care to
the elderly is conducting an experiment in privatization that’s
producing worrisome results. State officials in Georgia and around the
country continue to report that unscrupulous agents, working on
commission, are fleecing elderly Americans into dropping traditional
Medicare coverage and paying extra to buy private plans that do not
meet their needs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
5.. NY: Levy pushes to close Suffolk County’s nursing home
The debate over County Executive Steve Levy’s campaign to close or sell
Suffolk’s nursing home has highlighted the question of whether the
county should be in the business of operating public health care
facilities, whether they lose money or not. They say virtually all of
the Yaphank nursing home’s residents could be transferred to private
facilities if it closed, and that four local hospitals have expressed
interest in taking it over. Foley, now 89, a retired Suffolk
legislator, accused Levy of taking "an amoral approach to the question
of public health." "The public has to understand that you don’t make
money off the poor and to take care of the poor may cost money," Foley
said last week. Newsday