Speech #920244803

Mr. President. this amendment deals with the question of providing additional assistance for migrant workers in connection with health care. At the present time many individuals are not capable of receiving medical treatment simply because they are migrant workers and they do not qualify for medicare or medicaid. The House asked for an amount equal to $6 million and agreed to $4 million. This would add $1.5 million and it does not come up to the full amount of the authorization. Mr. President. it is my belief that we should increase the appropriations for migrant health programs by $1.5 million. Many of my colleagues in the Congress have shown the urgent need for adequate health care of the entire American public. Even more desperate are the health needs of the Nations 1 million migrant workers who have too long suffered disproportionately because of our neglect. At present. the per capita health expenditure per migrant is less than $9 compared with a national average of $250 per person. Generally. the migrant worker and his family who follow the crops rarely receive adequate health care. Seldom is the migrant worker eligible for the few local programs available. When he is. his work takes him to new or isolated areas that are without adequate facilities. In fact. most migrant workers are totally unaware of any of the handful of special programs designed for them. Most tragically. the migrant laborers living conditions expose him to a wider range of disease than the average American. His life expectancy is 20 years shorter than the average citizens. His infant mortality rate is 125 percent higher than the national average while his death rate from pneumonia or flu is 200 percent higher than the national rate. His probability of suffering from tuberculosis is 17 times more probable than the average citizens. Because most welfare programs do not cover these people. the need for adequate funding of the Public Health Service program for migrant workers is even more desperate. Mr. President. the $1.5 million in my amendment is intended to be used primarily to provide funds to meet the costs of hospitalization of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families in those States where hospital services are not covered under other programs. I believe we owe this much to the migrant workers of this Nation and I urge support of my amendment.