10% OFF ALL REGULAR
PRICED CLOTHING*
EVERY DAY
Purchase any North Face Goretex
Jacket from Berg's and get a
North Face Vest FREE!* A $69 value.
Hours Mon-Sat 10-7 ■ Sun 12-5
•Excluding snowboard clothing. * ‘While supplies Last.
13th S Lawrence • Eugene • 683-1300
1311 Lincoln
Willamette Towers Building
345-1810
I
HaircutsJlO
reg. $15
with shampoo & conditioner
Perms...*32
Loop rods.^2
& spirals
95
95
reg. $50-65 w/ conditioners, cut & style.
Longer, color treated hair slightly more.
Good Through November 30, 1998
J
Want to escape
those winter blues?
GEE: Council on International
Educational Exchange
877 1/2 East 13th Street,
Eugene [54l]-344-2263
1222 East 13th Street,
EMU Building,
Univ. of Oregon,
Eugene [54l]-344-2263
www.counci lt ravel . com
r \r«
MUSEUM
Wi o/^w
NATURAL
HISTORY
UNIVERSITY o/ORECON
1680 E. 15th Ave.
Eugene, OR
-346-1809
Open 12-5 p.m.
Wed.-Sun.
Museum Closed
Dec. 21-Jan. 5
Bring in this ad
and save 10%
off purchases
over $5.
Shop for (jifts that ‘Jycffcct
the 'Ifatural & Cultural
‘J\ichcs of the Pacific
'\orthwest
‘Extended ‘Holiday ‘Hours!
‘Friday & Saturday
from 12 noon to 7 pan.
Hod. 28 to ‘Dee. 19
Health plan to pay for assisted suicide
The Associated Press
SALEM — The Oregon Health
Plan is all but certain to begin cov
ering the costs of assisted suicide
by qualified low-income Oregoni
ans starting next month.
But first, Health Plan officials
must review testimony from a
public hearing Monday focusing
on the proposed rule to imple
ment the coverage.
That rule, proposed by the
state’s Office of Medical Assis
tance Programs, which adminis
ters the Medicaid portion of the
Healtn Flan, says the plan will pay
for all medical and counseling ap
pointments required by the law, as
well as the medication itself.
The law requires two doctors to
certify that the patient has less
than six months to live. The dying
patient must ask one of the doctors
for the lethal medication, once in
writing and twice verbally, 15
days apart.
If either doctor suspects the pa
tient is acting out of depression, the
patient must undergo counseling.
The Oregon Catholic Confer
ence staged a last-minute attempt
during Monday’s hearing to block
coverage, but it focused its opposi
tion on the state’s decision to cov
er the procedure, which was made
back in February by the Oregon
Health Services Commission.
Lynn Read, assistant director of
the Office of Medical Assistance
Programs, said the Catholic Con
ference would have to raise the is
sue with the commission, and she
doubted that could be done in
time to stop the health plan from
starting to cover assisted suicide
Dec. 1.
Lynda Brown, who spoke on be
half of the Catholic Conference’s
general counsel and executive di
rector Robert Castagna, said the
Legislature should be involved in
the decision of whether to cover
assisted suicide.
But Dr. Alan Bates, chairman of
the Health Services Commission,
said the laws governing what deci
sions the commission can make
outside a legislative session are to
keep the commission from making
a change that costs the state a lot of
money. That would not be the case
with assisted suicide, he said.
Bates said he respects the orga
nization’s moral stand, but the
commission decided that physi
cian-aid in dying is a health ser
vice that should be covered. He
said it would be unfair to deny
coverage of a legal option for
which many people with private
insurance have coverage.
Assisted suicide ranks 263rd on
the health plan’s prioritized list of
743 services. The insurance plan
currently covers only the first 574
items on the list, a cutoff point that
varies with shifts in the plan’s
budget.
Assisted suicide falls under the
heading “comfort care,” which
also includes such services as hos
pice care and access to pain med
ication.
Officials estimate the state
[CRIME
IWATCH
(Reported from Nov. 17 to Nov,
23)
Nov. 17, Criminal Mischief II, 1365
Ferry St.: damage to vehicle.
Nov. 17, Criminal Mischief II, 1700
E. 15th Ave.: damage to vehicle.
Nov. 17, Theft I, University Inn,
1000 Patterson St.: items stolen
from building.
Nov. 18, Unlawful Distribution of a
Controlled Substance 1,14th Av
enue and Mill Street: distributing
mushrooms.
Nov. 18, Driving Under the Influ
ence of Intoxicants, Broadway and
Hilyard Street.
Nov. 18, Theft II, Knight Library,
1501 Kincaid St.: items stolen off
desk.
Nov. 18, Criminal Mischief li, 901
E. 11th Ave.: window broken on
vehicle.
Nov. 18, Theft II, Bean Complex,
1416 Columbia St.: bike stolen.
Nov. 19, Theft II, 20th Avenue and
Harris Street items stolen from
vehicle.
Nov. 19, Theft II, 13th Avenue and
Mill Street: boot taken off vehicle.
Nov. 20, Unlawful Possession of a
Controlled Substance II, 17th Av
enue and Moss Street: distributing
meihamphetamines.
Nov. 20, Arson 1,84 E. 19th Ave.:
fire set twice on front porch. Sus
pect arrested.
Nov. 21, Robbery 11,1000 block of
Valley River Way: items stolen
from victim walking down the
street.
You Party.
We Pay.
Come in and register to win*
a hometown party with a
local band for you and 99
of your friends. While you're
here, check out all the hot
colors and styles of
Birkenstock® footwear's
Betula® Collection. We have
a look for every lifestyle,
'must be at least 21 years old
a#T«iIV1H
IRKENSTOCK STORE
181 E. Broadway • 342:6107 • Mon-Sat: 10-6, Sun: 11-5
health plan would pay less than
$45 for the medication, between
$9 and $81 for each visit to a doc
tor’s office and $30 to $118 for
each counseling session, depend
ing on what is involved.
The total cost would vary with
the number of appointments with
doctors and counselors.
“In the grand scheme of things,
this doesn’t compare to some of
the surgical procedures and other
things that we pay for,” Read said.
And Read said the state does not
expect a lot of claims. In the first
10 months that the assisted sui
cide law was in effect, the state re
ported only 10 cases of people re
ceiving lethal prescriptions under
the law.
Opponents worry patients will
be pressured to consider assisted
suicide because it is inexpensive.
They also believe the state’s cov
erage of assisted suicide indicates
misplaced priorities.
“The fact that the state of Ore
gon will not properly fund our
personal attendant services, yet
will pay for us to die, amounts to
nothing less than cultural geno
cide,” Ric Burger testified during
Monday’s hearing.
Burger has diabetes and uses a
wheelchair.
“I believe that greedy health
maintenance organizations will
place pressure on us to end our
lives,” said Burger, who is presi
dent of the Oregon chapter of the
American Disabled for Attendant
Programs Today.
Thanksgiving weekend
brings closures
Thanksgiving is right around
the corner, and a number of stu
dent services will be closed.
The Knight Library will close at
5 p.m. Wednesday and remain
closed through Thanksgiving. The
Knight Library, the Law Library
and the AAA Library will be open
regular hours Friday, Saturday
and Sunday.
The EMU will close at 5 p.m.
Wednesday, but The Buzz cafe will
stay open until 9 p.m. The EMU
will reopen Monday morning at
the regularly scheduled time.
The Health Center will be open
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday
and from noon to 6 p.m. Friday
through Sunday. Students who vis
it the center during the holiday
should use the Beech Street en
trance across from Carson Hall.
Oregon Hall will be closed
Thursday and Friday.
rls your day
going to be
funky? M
Read your horoscope in I
the ODE Classifieds. I