Portland Observer, October 12, 1983 Page 5
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Washington Hot Line
by Congressman Hon Wyden
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Saving Medicare dollars without plundering seniors
The title o f this article describes
an ideal. Most people’s response to
it is "nice trick, if you can pull it
o ff." That is understandable given
the history of the last three years.
The Reagan Adm inistration has
gone about cutting billions of dol
lars in social expenditures essentially
by cutting benefits; the theory being
that the only way to save money is
to take away benefits.
That is a conclusion which I re
fuse to accept. And, based on its ac
tions today, it is one which the
House Energy and Commerce Com
mittee's Subcommittee on Health
and the Environment also does not
accept.
E arlier this summer, I wrote
about my efforts to help save Medi
care dollars by cutting out waste in
the system.
Included in that package are my
bills which would:
1) Save $300 million a year by es
tablishing a national fee schedule
for laboratory services performed
for Medicare recipients;
2) Save $30 million a year by elim
inating payments for nunecessary
foot care services for Medicare pa
tients, and
3) Save $27 million by ending exces
sive m onitoring on cardiac pace
makers implanted in Medicare pa
tients.
I can happily report that these
measures have been accepted by the
Health and Environment Subcom
mittee o f the House Energy and
Commerce Com mittee o f which I
am a member.
These subcommittees' actions are
the im portant first step in getting
these reforms into law. There are
still other hurdles on the way to
making these ideas into real re
forms, but they carry with them a
compelling argument: They account
for more than $350 million worth of
the required $400 million in savings
targeted by the budget resolution
passed earlier this year.
Most im portantly, these savings
are achieved without cutting bene
fits to recipients of Medicare or dig
ging deeper into the already bare
pockets of senior citizens.
I strongly believe that this is the
kind of innovative waste cutting ne
cessary to keep the Medicare system
and other government programs
working well without drowning the
government in a sea or red ink.
Howard study probes Black families
by Henry Duvall
Stable middle-class Black Amer
ican families today may look like
they've "made it,” but, according
to a 50-family study at Howard U ni
versity, they face economic and em
ployment problems and a significant
percentage of their children are de
pressed .
In a recent study on stable Black
families in metropolitan Washing
ton, D .C ., researchers at How ard
U niversity's M ental H ealth Re
search and Development Center
found that financial, m arital and
child problems head the list of prob
lems most frequently experienced by
stable middle-class Black families.
Job dissatisfaction was reported
high in their assessments o f their
lives. And a surprising finding o f
the study is that one-third o f the
fam ilies noted that their children
suffer from depression.
The problems most frequently re
ported by married men in the study
were marital (65.4 percent), finan
cial (61.5 percent) and children (53.8
percent), followed by health (34.6
percent) and job/em ploym ent and
friends (each cited bv 26.9 percent
of the male respondents).
The married women cited prob
lems they frequently experienced as
financial (65.4 percent), marital and
children (each cited by 53.8 percent
o f the respondents), and jo b /e m
ployment (30.8 percent).
More than three-quarters o f the
single women heading households
named financial problems (83.3 per
cent) on the top o f their list, fo l
lowed by m arital or m ale-fem ale
problems (75.0 percent), children
(54.2 percent), and job/employment
(41.7 percent).
Financial, marital and child prob
lems are problems faced by most
middle-class families today regard
less o f race, says D r. Shirley H a t
chett, a sociologist at the University
o f M ichigan’ s Institute for Social
Research. Middle-class Blacks are
perhaps more vulnerable to changes
in the economy than white middle-
class families because, for the most
part, they are "newly arrived” mid
dle-class people, she adds
The study focused on 50 stable
Black families in the Washington,
D C ., area who were nominated by
com m unity organizations. The
Washington metropolitan area has
one o f the highest proportions of
middle-class Black families in the
nation.
Seventy-six individual interviews
were conducted with 26 wives and
their husbands, as well as with 24
single women who head households.
One strict criterion of stability was
that the family unit be at least five
years old.
Many of the families in the study
were above the median income,
education and employment levels in
comparison to other Black and
white fsm ilies. M ore than 90 per
cent of the couples and almost half
the single women own their homes.
The study’s principal researcher,
Dr. Lawrence E. Gary, director of
Howard's Institute for Urban A f
fairs and Research, which houses
the mental health research center,
believes that many of these families
experience financial problems be
cause expenses virtually consume
their incomes. Many o f them send
their children to private schools, or
are paying for day care, as well as
mortgages. For the most part, they
have only their incomes to rely on
because they have little or no finan
cial reserves.
Gary also attributes the problem
to the high cost of living in the na
tion's capital, and to social pro
grams that practically give no
breaks to the middle class in favor
of assistance to low-income people.
He says that financial planning
counseling may be needed.
On the employment fron t, Gary
believes that many of the persons in
the study are dissatisfied with their
jobs because there is "an awful lot
o f (w hite) resentm ent” o f Blacks
making gains He says a large num
ber of educated Blacks are underem
ployed, and are not moving up the
ladder the way they should, which
leads to job dissatisfaction.
Further, he notes that Black fe
males face “ a double whammy” —
sex and racial discrimination.
The m arital problems cited by
husbands and wives in the study
were linked to five areas of disagree
ment in their marriages— household
expenses, housekeeping chores, dis
ciplining children, how to spend lei
sure time, and irritatin g personal
habits. "Problems with in-laws, re
ligion, relatives and plans for the
two o f them were seldom c ite d ,"
says the report.
Seventy-five percent of the single
women in the study, most of whom
were divorced or separated, are ex
periencing male-female problems.
Most of these problems are tied to
experiences they are having with
former mates, says Gary. They have
difficulty getting child support and
there are problems with visitation
rights.
The most frequent problems re
lated to children were depression
and unhappiness. One-third o f the
parents reported child depression.
The single mothers, 62.5 percent of
them, saw this as a problem
compared to 53.9 percent o f the
married mothers.
One source o f the depression,
says Gary, may be that the children
are frustrated over the absence of
their parents in the home becuase
they are working.
Lula A. Beatty, project director,
speculates that the cause o f the de
pression may be that the children at
various times have come under pres
sure to achieve because their parents
are high achievers. And for those
children in single-parent house
holds, the depression may be a t
tributed to the disruption arising
from the break-up of their parents.
"The reason for the speculation is
because we did not anticipate this,”
she says, noting that a study of the
problems of Black children and ado
lescents is being planned.
O ther aspects o f stable Black
fam ily life were also found in the
comprehensive study. Family unity,
religion and love were perceived by
the families as their strengths.
In analyzing life satisfaction, the
study reveals that men were more
satisfied than women on all dimen-
Efforts increase to defeat racist
employment/immigration bill
by Ramon Ramirez
By government decree, October
10th is celebrated as Columbus Day.
We. representing Oregon’s Mexican
and Hispanic com m unities, com
memorate October IOth as "D ia de
la Raza." or Mexican Heritage Day.
This year, Dia de la Raza holds spe
cial significance in light of recent de
velopments in our campaign to de
feat the Simpson-Mazzoli " Im m i
gration Reform and Control A ct."
Last week. House Speaker T ip
O 'Neil declared that Simpson-Maz
zoli was dead for 1983, and prob
ably dead for 1984 as well. He went
on to promise that no immigration
legislation would reach the House
floor unless the Hispanic Congres
sional Caucus supports it.
The Hispanic Caucus strongly op
poses Simpson-Mazzoli, especially
the provisions to create employer
sanctions; these sanctions involve
fines and ja il sentences for hiring
undocumented workers. It supports
the Caucus' position and feels that
the Speaker's recognition of the im
portance of that position was long
i
overdue.
In our opinion, however, Simp
son-M azzoli is not dead, not for
1983 or 1984. Congressional staff
tell us that an October 18th House
Rules Committee meeting, previous
ly set for the purpose of hearing tes
timony on limiting the full House's
debate and amendment of Simpson-
Mazzoli, will proceed as scheduled
Senator Byrd threatens to attach
Simpson-Mazzoli to some “ urgent”
piece of legislation, perhaps an ap
propriations b ill./o rrm g the House
to vote on Simpson-Mazzoli. Senate
leaders are reported to be "consid
ering" this approach.
We therefore are increasing our
efforts to defeat Simpson-Mazzoli.
As we have consistently stated, we
oppose the provisions of Simpson-
Mazzoli because:
• The proposed employer sanc
tions will only serve to increase ra
cism against non-whites seeking em
ployment.
• The "leg alization ” provisions
will create a huge "guest-w orker”
program, denying workers the bene
fits their tax dollars fund.
• Cutbacks in due process protec
tions for asylum applicants are un
acceptable. People who have fled
torture and hardships deserve full
legal rights. These cutbacks w ill
most seriously affect Haitians, Sal
vadorans and Guatemalans.
• The proposed expansion of the
"temporary worker” or " H -2 ” pro
gram increases the forms o f legal
ized slavery, as seen during the Bra-
cero program terminated in 1964.
This legislation is ill-considered
and backward. I f passed, it will ce
ment an anti-latino and anti-im m i
grant bias in U.S. immigration law
and policy for generations to come.
Organizations endorsing the
above opinions include: Centro Chi
cano Cultural (Woodburn), Centro
C ultural (Cornelius), Coalition fo r
Im m ig ran t and Refugee Rights
(P o rtla n d —statewide), Hispanic
P olitical Action Committee (P o rt
la n d -s ta te w id e ), IM A G E (P o rt
land— statewide). La Alianza Legal
de Oregon (Portland), Mujeres de
Oregon (Portland—statewide), Wil
lamette Valley Immigration Project
(Woodburn).
sions, and m arried women were
more satisfied than were single
women on all dimensions except for
those who face, in addition to their
careers, everyday routines of chores
such as cooking and housekeeping.
" A ll groups agreed on the source
of most satisfaction— family life—
and the source o f least satisfac
tio n -jo b s .”
The profile also shows that stable
Black families solve their own prob
lems. I f help is sought, they turn to
relatives or friends rather than insti
tutional sources.
The researchers recommended in
the study that the church, especially
the Black church, undertake pro
grams that seek to im prove the
"economic via b ility ” of families
The Black church has tended to fo
cus attention on the adult and not
the fam ily. "T h e re 's a big d iffe r
en ce," G ary stresses, noting that
this is a recent phenomenon.
Gary emphasizes that the Black
church could hold training pro
grams and workshops on developing
coping strategies, improving male-
female and parent-child relation
ships as well as strengthening house
hold management skills.
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