Speech #930011000

Mr. Speaker. the passage of the Migrant Health Act in 1962. was one of the rare expressions of concern by the U.S. Congress for farmworkers and their families. Over the past decade. funds appropriated to migrant health have provided much needed. and otherwise unavailable health services to perhaps the single most cruelly exploited group of people in America. Now we are told that the administrations proposed 1974 budget recommends the termination of the migrant health program. If this program dies. then it will just serve to confirm the already justifiable belief of most farmworkers that the Government just does not care what happens to them. Congress should not allow this to happen. The need for a separate and distinct health program for migrants is manifestly obvious. and has been clearly demonstrated. The healthneeds of farmworkers is a terrible indictment of our societys unwillingness to provide farmworkers with basic necessities which are taken for granted by most other American workers. The litany is overwhelming: Farmworkers are victimized by an incidence of disease. infant mortality. malnutrition. and other health deficiencies unsurpassed by any other sector of. the population. Tuberculosis is 17 times more frequent. and infestation with worms 35 times more frequent among migrants than with the usual patient. Infant mortality and death from infectious diseases is 21/2 times the national average. Epidemics of polio have recently occured in areas highly concentrated by migrants. nutritional diseases remain common. The average life expectancy for a migrant is more than 10 years less than the average Americans. the average American. compared to the migrant worker. has seven times the number of medical visits per year4.3 as opposed to 0.61 visitseven though the farmworker Is obviously more in need of care. Incredibly. in affluent America. 59 percent of migrant children under age 3 have had no immunization shots whatsoever. Quite simply. health statistics for todays migrants are comparable to national averages for the year 1930it is a national disgrace. Because farmworkers constitute a unique segment of our society. they. therefore. require programs specifically designed to meet their unique problems. As they move around the country. picking the food for our tables. farmworkers constantly encounter language barriers. cultural differences. and. as a consequence of their mobility. are unable to meet residence requirements which then denies them medical services. Studies clearly show that only a very few farmworkers ever become eligible for medicare or medicaid. Migrant health programs have been designed to meet the particular need of the people they serve. One hundred and seventeen single and multicounty health projects now assist farmworkers in. 317 counties in 36 States. In my State of California. consumeroriented health programs that should become prototypes for the rest of the Nation have been eminently successful. It has been exciting and gratifying to see programs developed to meet migrant workers particular needsit would be cruelly disheartening to see these programs lost because of a bureaucratic shuffle. Farmworkers know from bitter experience what will happen to their health services if they become just one of many groups competing for scarce fundsfarmworker programs will evaporate. Four decades ago.