May 24, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E 1115

required to be offered under the same rules

as set forth in Title III below. Such plans

would therefore have different benefits than

traditional MediGap plans.

III. MEDIGAP PROVISIONS

A. All MediGap policies would be required

to be community rated.

B. MediGap plans would be required to participate in coordinated open enrollment.

C. The loss ratio requirement for all plans

would be increased to 85 percent.

IV. COORDINATED OPEN ENROLLMENT

A. The Secretary would conduct an annual

open enrollment period during which Medicare beneficiaries could enroll in any

MediGap plan, Medicare Select, or an HMO

contracting with Medicare.

1. Each Medigap plan, Medicare Select

plan, and HMO contractor would be required

to participate in the open enrollment system.

2. The Secretary would make available to

beneficiaries information on Medigap and

Medicare-contracting HMO plans.

B. Generally, except for cause, an enrollee

could enroll, disenroll, or switch plans only

during the annual open enrollment period,

with the following exceptions:

During the first year of enrollment with a

limited access plan (including HMOs and

Medicare Select) the beneficiary could

disenroll at the end of any calendar quarter

and return to fee-for-service. During the second year, disenrollment could only occur

mid-year at the end of the second calendar

quarter. After the first two years,

disenrollment could only occur during the

open enrollment period;

There would be an exception for HMOs

which the Secretary determines has reached

capacity;

There would be an exception to individuals

newly eligible for Medicare or who are new

residents of the service area of a plan who

could enroll on an open enrollment basis during the sixty-day period that begins thirty

days before they become eligible or before

they become a resident of the service area.

COMPREHENSIVE FETAL ALCOHOL

SYNDROME PREVENTION ACT

f

HON. BILL RICHARDSON OF NEW MEXICO

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, May 24, 1995

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I am

pleased to introduce the Comprehensive Fetal

Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Act. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [FAS] is the leading cause of

mental retardation in the United States and is

one of the most common birth defects to occur

in our country. Diagnosis is rare prior to birth

and there is no cure for FAS or Fetal Alcohol

Effects [FAE], its less severe counterpart.

This disease is completely preventable, by

simply avoiding alcohol during pregnancy, but

the number of affected children is rising sharply. Recent studies indicate that the percentage

of babies stricken by FAS has increased sixfold in the last 15 years.

The statistics are appalling: the disease affects 1 in 250 live births; 5,000 infants are

born each year with the recognizable facial,

physical and mental abnormalities caused by

FAS; 50,000 babies are born annually with

FAE, and suffer from learning disabilities,

central nervous system damage, and physical

disorders.

Not only are the emotional impacts of these

diseases devastating, the costs associated

with treatment are very high: health care costs

for one child stricken with FAS total $44,000.

FAS and FAE strike without regard to race

or economic status, but the rate of incidence

is higher among certain groups; for instance,

the rate is 30 times higher among Native

Americans. This disease threatens to destroy

whole generations on some reservations if

stronger federal action is not initiated.

Surprisingly, much of the public is still unaware of the dangers of drinking during pregnancy. The medical community does not uniformly caution against alcohol consumption for

pregnant women, and most medical schools

do not provide curriculum on FAS prevention

and detection.

This bill seeks to address each of these issues comprehensively. It requires the Department of Health and Human Services to close

the gaps in our current efforts to prevent FAS

and FAE by establishing a coordinating committee to streamline program development and

eliminate duplicative research programs. The

committee will develop professional practice

standards and curriculum for health care providers, and will initiate a national public awareness program to outline the dangers of alcohol

consumption during pregnancy. Finally, additional research will be conducted to aid detection and a cure for FAS so that future generations will not suffer from this debilitating disease.

This bill, as evidence by our bipartisan list of

cosponsors, deserves the support of all Members, and I look forward to working toward its

passage.

VIRGINIA R. SAUNDERS, 50 YEARS

OF FEDERAL SERVICE

f

HON. STENY H. HOYER OF MARYLAND

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, May 24, 1995

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to

recognize Ms. Virginia Saunders, congressional document specialist at the Government

Printing Office, for reaching 50 years of dedicated and enthusiastic Federal service on Friday, May 26, 1995.

Ms. Saunders was born Virginia R. Frisbie

in Darlington, MD, on October 11, 1926. After

working briefly at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she came to the Government Printing

Office on February 4, 1946, as a war service

junior clerk typist in the division of public documents, stock section. Two years later, she

was promoted to the division of public documents reference section. In February 1951,

Ms. Saunders was promoted to indexing clerk

and earned subsequent promotions in the

same classification. In July 1958, she was promoted to library technician. Becoming a congressional documents specialist in April 1970,

she was then promoted to supervisor of the

congressional documents section in July 1974.

In October 1983, Ms. Saunders assumed her

current position of congressional documents

specialist in the congressional printing management division, customer services.

Although one may not yet recognize the

name of this outstanding GPO employee, the

end product of her dedicated efforts is certainly familiar. Ms. Saunders has primary responsibility for the Congressional Serial Set,

which is a compilation of all the House and

Senate documents and reports issued for

each session of Congress. Dummy volumes

establishing the format for each edition are

prepared and assigned a serial number following each session of Congress. The actual

books are produced by GPO’s binding division, often as many as 100 volumes per set

for each session of Congress. As a chronicle

of events of the U.S. Congress over the years,

the Congressional Serial Set is rivaled only by

the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. While the Serial

Set records behind-the-scenes legislative activities for the United States, the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD reflects the ‘‘in session’’ proceedings. Distributed to the House and Senate

libraries, the Archives, the Library of Congress, and depository libraries, the Congressional Serial Set joins the CONGRESSIONAL

RECORD in offering students and historians a

rich insight into the American system of government.

In late 1989, Ms. Saunders drew upon her

indepth knowledge of depository library program responsibilities in informing the Nation,

and her then-43 years of GPO experience, to

submit an employee suggestion regarding the

appendix to the Iran Contra Report to Congress. She suggested that this 40-volume publication, which was printed as both a Senate

and House report, be bound only once for the

serial set volumes of House and Senate reports that are sent to depository libraries. She

further suggested that the Schedule of Volumes, which is a listing of the bound volumes,

contain a notation explaining the mission serial

number voluments. The implementation of this

suggestion resulted in a reduction of 13,740

book volumes to be bound, saving the Federal

Government over $600,000. In recognition of

these efforts, she received GPO’s top monetary Suggestion Award for that year. In ceremonies held on January 9, 1991, Ms. Saunders was awarded a Presidential letter of commendation under the Presidential Quality and

Management Improvement Award Program. In

his letter to Ms. Saunders, President Bush

noted, ‘‘You have demonstrated to an exceptional degree my belief that Federal employees have the knowledge, ability, and desire to

make a difference.’’

I know my colleagues and Ms. Saunders’

family, friends, and coworkers join me in congratulating her on 50 years of exemplary Federal service.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SHELTER ISLAND HEIGHTS POST OFfFICE

HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES OF NEW YORK

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, May 24, 1995

Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to

praise the exceptional service provided by the

Shelter Island Heights Post Office. For the

past 115 years, the Shelter Island Heights

Post Office has served the community with extreme dedication. I would also like to commend the Shelter Island ferry service which

has provided the vital link between the mainland and Shelter Island. This ferry service has

been at the heart of the Postal Service for the

Shelter Island Heights community. With the

help of this ferry service, the Shelter Island

Post Office has been able to deliver over 1.5