Show 1 2A Standard-Examin- Saturday er November 26 1988 Opinions Doug Taylor credo: No child is missed hidDoug Taylor's rough exterior hides the Santa Claus den deep inside Like Saint Nick Taylor is dedicated to the proposition that every youngster — no matter how poor — deserves a magical Christmas He runs an auction company on Riverdale Road Unknowing people believe it is a place where auction junkies spend their time bidding and buying items for little or nothing It is more than that Before the upcoming holiday season is over hundreds of children will be beneficiaries of Doug Taylor’s benefit auctions The auctions are in part Taylor’s way of ensuring a cheery "Harry feels left happy Christmas for children who otherwise out Says he didn’t make the would be missed by the jolly old elf on Christmas Eve All year long Taylor raises money to finance his own brand of “Toys for Tots” program He keeps a large box in the front of his auction arena As he chants the auctiong eer’s people bid on toys and other items One fills with the toys that are purchased and one box the by donated to the cause This is the 14th year that Doug Taylor has been “Santa” to Ogden area underprivileged boys and girls When the boxes are filled he enlists the assistance of Don Stokes a jovial gent who dons a red velvet suit each December They sort and assemble the toys for distribution ENTIRE ANY money illegally during Reagan administration" sing-son- TO ftOPLl NSO1 DIKTAT TOi Taylor and Stokes join forces with other philanthropic progroups that are the facilitators of the SerRevenue Internal Salvation The Army Ogden gram: vice Center Defense Depot Ogden YCC Ogden Elks American Legion and a host of others Together they sponsor families and accept the responsibility for disbursing food boxes and toys Taylor does not limit his auctioneering skills to his Christmas toy program Throughout the year he volunteers to stage doing two or three benefit auctions a week He’s been known to raise money to boost the funds for the Catholic Church organizations that aid the mentally handicapped and police widows He helps politicians raise money in their bids for office and shares it his talents with agencies He is the first to donate large ticket items to benefit auctions “Sub-for-Sant- a” 4Q fund-raise- rs non-prof- Ask Taylor and he will quickly reply that any comparison with any other kind of public serv ice is overshadowed by his satisfaction in knowing he has brightened Christmas for less fortunate youngsters He gives the credit to the willingness of his auction customers to fill up the toy boxes His personal commitment is to ensure that “no kid goes without a toy on Christmas” And he has been successful Hundreds of boxes of toys will be delivered on Christmas Eve to youngsters in needy families because of a tradition started and perpetuated by Doug Taylor sure who’s honeymoon was shorter George Bush's or What’s your stopwatch say?” "I’m not Mike Tyson's Who should pay medical costs for the elderly? pay more toward medical costs Elderly must leave money for young For Scnpps Howard Nuas Scvivi’ We are utterly failing to do enough for our children and our younger families Seniors have Medicare with truly comprehensive protection phasing in over the next four years due to the Medicare Catastrophic Protection Act But 37 million Americans under the age of 65 have no health insurance and are reluctant to seek medical help because of the cost The result is needless death and disease Tens of millions more younger families have health insurance policies that are so weak that they too avoid doctors like the plague: they just can't afford to pay the deductibles and copayments required in their policies It is estimated that a million Americans a sear who need treatment do not get treatment Uninsured Americans base been "dumped" from hospital emergency rooms because they did not have health insurance and they hase literally died in the hospital parking lot The United States is 19th in the world in terms of infant mortality below the levels in some developing countries Because of lack of good care thousands of babies are bom each year retarded and handicapped Because we don't provide a few hundred dollars in baby care we end up spendof ing hundreds of thousands caring for a handicaps And how do we expect our children to grow up and support the Social Security System through jobs when 20 percent of them are livhealth care ing in poverty and getting crummy Medicaid'’ like through programs With figures like these I think all seniors will agree that we need to do more to improve the health of our younger people But we also need to do more to help seniors with e centhe costs of home health care adult ters and nursing home care for those with pre-nat- life-tim- good-payin- g day-car- e al Rep Pete Stark long-ter- chronic illnesses and the frailties of very m old age The question then is how can the nation pay for improvements in both the health of our children and younger families and take care of the remaining gaps in care for seniors? I think we have to ask the seniors who can afford it to contribute to the cost of expansions in health care for seniors t is why the new Medicare Catastrophic bill is financed by a combination of increases in the flat monthly Part B premium and by a new supplemental premium that is calculated as a percentage of what one owes in federal income taxes The supplemental premium will be paid by the 40 percent of retirees who make enough taxable income to file a tax return There is a limit to the maximum amount of supplemental premium a senior will pay Only the wealthiest 5 percent ot all seniors will pay that maximum and those will be retirees receiving more than $40000 as a single person or $75000 as a couple As you can see these numbers are much much higher than the average wage of a younger working person If we do not ask seniors in this income group to pay for the program then we would be asking younger workers to pay for it out of their lower incomes! Only by asking upper income seniors to contribute to their own comprehensive health protection can we also find the resources among younger workers to provide more health care for our children and younger families It is part of the social compact — of being one nation — that we take care of the health of all our people How we pay for that means that we have to look to the resources of everyone young and old It is the only way we can end the disgrace of being the only industrialized nation in the world other than South Africa that does not provide for the health of all its citizens is chairman of the Hnu (Rep Stark li tm and Means Committee's health Added medical costs put severe burden on elderly Americans Nes Service A recent and disturbing trend in the American media has been to posit that older Americans are else living very well — at the expense of everyone Those who say that most of the elderly are living in economic bliss are ignoring deliberately or otherwise not only the millions of elderly Americans living in or at the edge of poverty but also the millions more who by any reasonable definition are economically vulnerable Older Americans are not living in the lap of luxulife for almost 6 milry Poverty is a daily fact of lion elderly Americans and it threatens millions For Scripps Howard more More than one in five elderly persons is officially considered poor as defined by the federal govern- ment and 15 million have an income just over $5000 a year For our ethnic minorities the news is even more five black elderly are grim Better than two of every classified as poor and one of three Hispanic elderly has an income below the poverty level While the elderly as a group have about the same the elderly have rate of poverty as the near-poof a much higher proportion Moreover the elderly groups with the highest most rapidpoverty rates are among those growing alone and old living elderly ly: women the very Social Security rather than an unneeded bonus is the staff of life for many seniors Nine to 10 million people over 65 are kept above the 4 to 5 million poverty level by Social Security and other of ages are also Social Security beneficiaries benefits their level by the poverty kept above Social Security is the primary source of income to about 70 percent of all persons aged 65 and over and it is virtually the sole source of income for almost 30 percent of the elderly Others can supplement this with pension benefits However only one quarter of Americans ever collect a pension and for women this percentage is a percent disturbing Other inescapable factors contribute to making non-elder- ly or rock-botto- 8-- m Rep Claude Pepper the elderly poor — obviously earning power lessens in the later years of life and at the same time some expenses rise The elderly spend about 3 times more for health care than their younger peers and health care uses of their income They require up fully more medicines longer hospital stays and more frequent physician visits This greater outlay for health care in later years is compounded by the fact that the elderly are being asked to bear the burden of very sharp increases in costs These place a severe drain on the limited funds of most elderly especially those one-fift- h et who are near-po- Medicare beneficiaries in 1987 had to pay $520 for each hospitalization Next year when the Medicare Catastrophic Protection Act takes effect seniors will be taxed at new higher rates for health benefits few will ever use This new tax which can hit a maximum of $800 annually per individual will take quite a toll on those whose incomes are fixed tied to a Social Security check or pension benefit With regard to housing while it is true that 72 percent of elderly own their own homes the major- ity of those homes are old and of limited worth For those seniors who are not homeowners housing is in woefully short supply There are other areas in which federal support has been pulled out from under the elderly Anyone who has been reading the newspapers knows that millions have been chiseled off such important programs as supplemental security income and food low-co- st subsidy programs We have a long way to go before we can declare victory’ against the ancient economic foes of the elderly: poverty economic vulnerability fear uncertainty There are Americans in all age groups who are on the wrong side of “Easy Street" to be sure but there is room to spare on the brighter side of the street We have the resources to help the vulnerable move But first we must dispel the mytjof the economics of old age T is chairman of the House (Rep Pepper ging Committee’s subcommittee on health and care) D-F- la 1 long-ter- |