87 THE GREEN SHEET San Diego Union (Calif.): _.-. -- ..-- Surgeon. General Calls Himself Backer . Of Women's Rights WMEINGTON(UPI)-TbenewUuSswgeongqsraL Dr.CEv~tKoop,sPyshcira~pioaofaomen's. rightsaodthatchargwtotbewntmywewputofa yllclkecmalmal by tboee who oppnsed his mmg a@- In an interview last week after the Senate confirmed bisuomioationooa6&21vote+Koopalsosaidbez - Oppoeu most federal involvement in health ser- vicu. ~Thinkute~su;ltismddnllcanpaigoie rppropripk -suppoeshomehealthcareasbetterfartbepatieot and less costly for the taxpayer. - WiU work within the admi&tration's budget cuts. It~clavthatKoop,oacraleadiae~intbe~ti- abortionmovemenfwasirkedbychargubySen.Ed- ward Kennedy, DMPss, that he opposea women's rights and lacks the experience `to head the Fnbiic Health Ser- vice. LThedayIeamctoWubin~.Itoldtbescerrtug(of healtbaedbumanserriea,IMbardScbadirer)ihadsaid and wrtttea all I sboeld ahout abortion, my interests in this job were to get behind some of the be&h initiativea hehadinmiadandIdidnotintendtobcaspe~rootbe pro-life circuit as I bad been in days gone by. "I have stuck to that" True to his word. he refused to answer questions about cibortion. "I don't thiok there is any doubt I was sin&d out," Koop said. "I tmiy believe the smoke screeo of various reasons wby I was not suitable for this job .rarc just cover-up for tbe fact I had been an oetspoken Ice of abortion. "I have done other things in my life yoe know." Koop, 65, was 0M of tbe fti pediatric mrgeons in the nation, has written 170 professional paper& and has worked on health projects in Third World couutria. "I look upon myself as a champion of women," he said "I have trained, more female pediatric surgeoas than aoy- one else in thi3 cwotty. I have always stnod for their rights." Predccmon Luther Terry aed Julius Richmond drew from DreLious page Brown said the co-payments w&Id save as much as $45 million a year. But critics have contended there would be no appreciable savings and predicted that many doctors would refuse to coUec~ the monay. A proposal to deduct potential co-peyment saving from doctors' Medl-Col reimbursements was defeated in tbe Lcgislotore. Dr. C. Everett Koop , - attention battlhg tobamo. &Ye I ttdnk that3 a very appropriate function of gov- moment" Koop said of the $ZS miilioe anti-smoking pro- pram ended by F'resident Reagae Ije said reseaxh b something government does we4 "If indeed the research paid for by the taxpayer turns up the fact that a specific way of life or Mestyle is in the long run deleterious ro an individual's health. that faxpap- er should be the recipient of any education we can give bimtoprotecthim,"hesaid KooptookacoeservativestandonMedicamandMedi- caid. "We&" he sai& "ae have them. Wbee you have them it's very difficult td cut back on them because it tak= so loeg to build alternative wchaaismr I ce&inly would favor a return to Medicare care by the private sector if it were possible, but I do&t believe that complete shift is possible in tbe foreseeable futnr~" `Ido&twanttosceanatioaalbealtbservi~"Koop added.`Qebastobeca&elacatastmp&cbeAtbiesur- anceprogramitP'tthethiaed~oftbewedgetbatleads mbrbroaderdefiitioneachyeertmtUeverything*a cam* But there are crippling financial circum- stances to certain kinds of be&b no we family `can pck ItptbESedadayr"~ Koopseidath!sconfhmationbeariugthatAui?Rant Health Secretary Edward Brant haJ given him respoasi- biiity over the disabled, the elderiy and the commissioned carps of 7,200 Public Realth Service doctors, nunes, sam- tation engineem, veterinarians and other pmfessionals. Be gave reporteta this agenda - Noting this is the Intemational Year of Diibied Paroar, be said "I've spent my life with disabled children . . . One way we can aid the situation is to examine where them mtgbt be duplicatioo and overlap in the disability sewices, we if we canoot get rid of those, and thereby keep ep the quality of seriices even aitb the reduced budget" - The commisioaed corps "has been under attack by &Of$? of Management and Budget" be said. "WC will treamhbg the cyps." - Noting the fortham g White House Conference on Agiug,besaid"tbepmblemttdscountryfacesiudays ahead with an imewiig percentage and absolute num- ber of people over 65 means we have to, as a country, develop a be&b @icy toward the=" & for bdget cn& he said it was "zor my prerogative" toaskformorefunds. Koop said thio@ were not "settled eoough to know !mw" the consolidation of health ~rograrns intn block gants wiU affect the Public Health Ser&e "in actual douan." "It puts the onea of respowibiIity on the state and local aachorities, who koow better than the federal government what their priorities should be." he said `They can serve the be&h neads with their cwn initiatives, rather than having us do it from rhis distance." Kwp recalled the case of K&e %ck.x. I x!i. ct;:ii Mr. Reagan t3iked aboo: in his Last cress c'onicx~e `c-r) had to stay in the hospital because ?.led;ca;d wouida't pay for home health care. Koop said home heaith care has three great advantages. `It peb the child back in the home, where the chid teiongs," he said "It improves the child's psychological outlook because it is not institutionaiized. It's ever so much cheaper."