Council to mull state health plan

Lawmakers introduced a zone change to make way for a toy-train shop.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- City council has agreed to consider a resolution throwing its support to a proposed statewide health-care plan.
Lawmakers decided Wednesday that the resolution will be prepared by Law Director J. Terrence Dull supporting the Single Payer Action Network, or SPAN.
Leonard Grbinick of Austintown, chairman of the Mahoning Valley Chapter of Health Care For All Ohioans, told council that the statewide group is working to achieve reform of the health insurance system so that every resident is guaranteed full and comprehensive health-care coverage.
The effort needs 97,000 signatures to get the network on the November 2007 ballot. They hope to get between 125,000 and 140,000 signatures.
Paying the bill
Funding would come from all employers who would pay 3 percent tax on gross receipts into the Ohio Health Care Fund. It would be administered by a nonprofit government agency accountable to the public, Grbinick said.
Savings would be realized by eliminating the administrative waste and profits of the 1,500 private insurance companies and HMOs in the state, Grbinick explained.
Under the proposal, he said, there would be no deductibles, no co-payments and no exclusions because of pre-existing medical conditions.
Jack Daley of Struthers, group vice chairman, pointed out there are 1.3 million Ohioans who have no health-care coverage.
Daley said there are 14 states actively pursuing some sort of health-care coverage for their citizens.
A similar issue was defeated in Oregon, Daley said, because the labor unions were excluded from the process.
Zoning change
Also during the meeting, lawmakers gave first reading to change the zoning of the former board of education offices on Warren Avenue from residential to neighborhood commercial that will allow for a toy-train shop.
Robert Godfrey of Warren is proposing the shop and eventually a restaurant in the building that once housed Jackson Elementary School.
Godfrey has collected about 1,000 miniature trains for more than 35 years. He has been working on improvements to the two-story brick building since last summer.
In other business, lawmakers eliminated the category of superintendent at the cemetery department and created the position of "working crew leader."
Louis Hillier has been named to the position that will pay $17.63 per hour.
Mayor Ralph A. Infante said eliminating the superintendent's position will save about $30,000 annually and help make the department self-sustaining.
yovich@vindy.com