Mr. Speaker. the administrations proposed 20percent budget cutback in the area of migrant health will adversely affect the ability of many migrant farmworkers to receive any type of health care. As a result of the proposed cutback. existing health care programs will be drastically reduced by 27 percent. at a time when the costs of delivering health care services have spiraled upward with the everincreasing rate of inflation. While the costs of health care delivery have increased 36 percent in the past 3 years. funding for the migrant health care programs has remained unchanged. Now. the Ford administration proposes to reduce funds in this vital area. It is true that the migrant health care programs have confronted serious problems. Migrants cannot receive treatment through medicaid or medicare because they cannot sign the required "intent to reside" statements of fulltime residency in a given State. They cannot benefit from those health programs designed for those receiving welfare because they are an active part of our labor force. Recent HEW provisions for "third party" reimbursement of fees have restricted the migrants access to health care. since he generally cannot afford outside coverage for health services. Randomness in feecharging among the various States and localities has further handicapped the farmworkers ability to pay medical fees. Only a small segment of the 3 million migrant population has had access to Government funded health care. Yet. the existing migrant health care programs have been proven effective in making available comprehensive health care services for seasonal and migrant farmworkers and their families. In 1974. 355.000 persons were served by these programs and a projected 20 to 30 percent yearly increase in use of these services is expected. For the majority of the persons served by these programs. no other source of health care is available within their means.
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Migrants migrants migrant