HEALTH-CONVERSION FUND

Top Democrats in the New York Assembly and some consumer groups are opposed to a plan proposed by Gov. George E. Pataki that would redirect $160-million from the New York Charitable Asset Foundation, more than half of the fund’s $260-million endowment, into biomedical research, reports The New York Times. The funds were set aside when Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield converted into a profit-making company in 2002 and the money was supposed to be used to provide health care to uninsured people.