What was going on when I was born?

Many American employers say the cost of medical care, which has risen more than tenfold in the last two decades, has become an oppressive burden to their businesses. Lee A. Iacocca, chairman of the Chrysler Corporation , one of the companies hardest hit by workers' growing medical bills, said that if the nation's system of health care is not revamped, ''You'll see a lot of broke companies.'' The Reagan Administration has tried to cope with the inflation in health-care costs by imposing limits on Federal Medicare payments. Several other large corporations, including General Motors, Ford, Citibank and W. R. Grace, are trying to limit their health costs by pressing workers to pay a larger share of their own medical bills. The workers are resisting, arguing that health benefits are a right they won in collective bargaining.

Once upon a time, long before critics talked of ''intertextual analysis,'' before feminism and Marxism, before Jung and Freud, some simple folk sat in circles and told stories about cinder maids and princes and houses made of sugar and cake and snow-white birds that helped little children find their way out of the great green forest. As the years passed, the stories continued. Good triumphed over evil, darkness became light, sadness surrendered to the happily ever after. In time, these simple folk tales and fairy tales became literature and were taken up by scholars who, as is their custom, began to read between the lines.

The climate for private bank lending to Eastern European nations has begun to improve in the first upturn since the Polish debt crisis of 1981. Most Eastern European nations, not following Poland's lead, have seen their debt situation improve because of better trade balances and the steps they have taken to reorganize their internal economies. ''The upturn has already occurred,'' said Donald Green, a vice president at Chase Manhattan Bank. He added, ''We'll probably see quite a big year in 1984 in net lending to Eastern European countries who survived the crunch, and to the Soviets.'' He said he expected a small surge in lending by American banks, but that the bulk of financial activity with the Eastern bloc would come, as it has traditionally, from Western Europe.

The movements were sudden and swift. A man at the corner of Delancey and Clinton Streets on the Lower East Side shoved a small envelope into a slot that had been chiseled into the trunk of a gray sedan parked at the curb. Soon two large envelopes emerged from the hole. The man disappeared down the street and the car sped off. The exchange of drugs for cash had taken 30 seconds, and when it was over, the scene of a crime had vanished.

A caption in some editions of Sports Pages on Saturday misidentified the Knicks player in the picture. He was Marvin Webster.

After weeks of neighborhood uproar and bureaucratic entanglements, the sagging fortunes of a Korean immigrant who wants to open a delicatessen amid the luxury of Park Avenue and 75th Street were looking up yesterday. Politicians were stepping in to champion his cause. Neighbors were toning down their vehement opposition. Contributions to help defend the little shop were rolling in. The owner of the embattled establishment, now restyled a ''gourmet food shop,'' was promising changes to satisfy the objections of city agencies and troubled neighbors.

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1984 The Economy The Federal budget deficit appears likely to widen for years to come, despite swings in the business cycle. The structural deficit is rooted in President Reagan's programs of tax cuts and military buildup, as well as the growth of entitlement programs, and many fear it will disrupt the growth of the economy. (Page A1.)

Gary Hart defeated Walter F. Mondale in the Maine Democratic caucuses tonight, scoring his second upset victory in a week in the race for the party's Presidential nomination. After counting was completed at 97 percent of the 412 meetings, Senator Hart of Colorado had 8,119 votes, 50.2 percent of the total, while former Vice President Mondale had 7,015 votes, 43.4 percent. The rest of the votes were to send uncommitted delegates to the national convention or were scattered among candidates who did not actively campaign here. Late tonight Mr. Mondale had not conceded defeat, but Barry Hobbins, the state Democratic chairman, congratulated Mr. Hart on his victory.

Because of incorrect caption material supplied by Camera Press Ltd, the picture in some editions Saturday accompanying the obituary of Roland Culver, the British actor, was not of Mr. Culver.

The House Ways and Means Committee, in less than two days last week, approved a $49.3 billion tax increase over the next four years. About the same time, the Senate Finance Committee slogged through its fourth day on a similar bill and will have to meet again next week to finish. The difference, it appears, is that the Ways and Means Committee did its work behind closed doors while the Finance Committee met under the eyes of the press and, more important, the lobbyists. ''We're not operating in closed sessions, so it takes a little longer over here,'' said Senator Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas and the chairman of the Finance Committee.

Formal scrapping of the accord Lebanon reached last May with Israel on security and on a simultaneous Syrian and Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon, will be started today, Lebanon's Foreign Minister said. Cancellation of the American-sponsored agreement has been a key Syrian demand in talks on a formula to end Lebanon's political violence. (Page A1, Column 1.) Heavy fighting broke out again in Beirut between the Lebanese Army and anti-Government militiamen as negotiations continued between Lebanese and Syrian officials in Damascus. Fighting was also reported at the strategic mountain town of Suk al Gharb, Shuweifat and Kfar Chima, along the Lebanese Army's line protecting the presidential palace at Baabda. (A6:1.)

The Air Force has decided, in a master plan for air transport, that it wants to stop buying the Lockheed C-5 cargo plane after current production. Instead, it plans to acquire 220 new aircraft called the C-17, built by McDonnell Douglas, over the next 30 years. The plan, signed Sept. 29 by the Secretary of the Air Force, Verne Orr, and its Chief of Staff, Gen. Charles A. Gabriel, must ultimately be approved by Congress in the budget process. So far, Congress has voted only developmental funds for the C-17.