the previous ones. I suspect when we get into this we will find that there are programs that will meet their problems. (The following material was received by the committee:) NATIONAL FEDERATION FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, HUDSON COUNTY BRANCH, Jersey City, N.J., November 21, 1963. DEAR CHAIRMAN MILLS: I am the Mrs. Lillian Allan who testified on the insurance case (medicare) before you, on Wednesday, November 20. I would like to add these few cases to my testimony, but I do not have the facilities for making 60 copies. So I am submitting this for your consideration. Sincerely, Mrs. LILLIAN ALLAN, Secretary. When our member, Mr. Harry F. Smith, an insurance man, retired, his group insurance was stopped. That didn't bother him. He owned his own home, free and clear, and had $10,000 in the bank. Three operations liquidated that $10,000, his life savings. It was hard to pay taxes on the house, with social security money. He was afraid he was going to lose his house too. He took part-time work in an amusement park and worked long hours for 75 cents an hour. He pleaded with me to write to the state legislature to get the $800 tax exemption for senior citizens. It passed. Mr. HARRY F. SMITH, SENIOR CITIZEN Her My neighbor next door has diabetes. She has one leg off and the toe cut off on the other foot, which also has a drain in it, and an ulcer on the heel. hospitalization benefits for the year are used up. Two visits to the hospital have cost $3,000. Her rich brother is paying the hospital bills, but the house is forfeit, for security. Money for drugs and special foods take most of her social security. This woman financed her nephew through medical school. She plans to sell her house in the spring and go to Italy, where she will get free medical care from her nephew. It is costing her $25 twice a week to go to a diabetes specialist. She will be lucky if she has enough money left to pay her fare to Italy, after all her debts for the hospital, doctor, drugs, etc., are paid. Mrs. MoмO, Jersey City, N.J. I hope and pray that I don't live long enough to be a senior citizen. It is very hard for me to beg. I would rather do without, whether it is food, medicine, or doctor. Only severe pain or an emergency, would get me into a hospital. I control my condition with pills. Mrs. LILLIAN ÁLLAN, INSURANCE Blue Cross reduces benefits at age 70; premium on this policy is $20.70 quarterly. Continental Casualty pays approximately half the hospital bill. What is a senior citizen to do, if they have no money in the bank, to pay the balance? Kerr-Mills will not pay it. Investigation first before you enter hospital. Premium quarterly $19. Most senior citizens carry only minimum hospitalization insurance. $6 a month. American Association of Retired People (AARP), sponsor Continental Casualty. Mrs. LILLIAN ÁLLAN. The CHAIRMAN. We are sorry that we ran so long that Mr. Chapotz couldn't remain and we appreciate the fact that you have, and if you 27-166-64-pt. 1- 40 will give us your name and your address and the capacity in which you appear, we will be glad to hear you. STATEMENT OF GUY F. FAIN, GRAND PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED & VETERAN RAILWAY EMPLOYEES, GLENDALE, OHIO Mr. FAIN. My name is Guy Fain, and I live in the suburbs of Cincinnati, and I am grand president of the Retired Employees of the United States and the gentleman gave me his brief because he had to go back to Pittsburgh. Mr. Chapotz wanted me to present it to the committee. I thought perhaps, Mr. Chairman, that due to the lateness of the hour, I think he left a copy of his statement to be put in the record of these hearings. Now, I don't know whether to read it or not. The CHAIRMAN. Whichever way you want to do it, we will receive it for the record as though he had presented it or we will let you present it yourself. STATEMENT OF CHARLES CHAPOTZ, REPRESENTING THE UNITED PENSIONEERS, IVE ELECTRIC WORKERS RETIREES, DISTRICT 15 STEELWORKER RETIREES, PITTSBURGH, PA. Mr. FAIN. He says (reading): My name is Charles Chapotz of Turtle Creek, Pa. I represent the United Pensioneers, IVE Electric Workers Retirees, District 15 Steelworker Retirees, and a number of other senior groups in and around Pittsburgh. I have a delegation from these groups with me and I will ask that they now rise. We thought we would have 30 people in our delegation. One is in the hospital and the other had a stroke last week and died over the weekend. I am here to ask you to please act quickly on this bill-the King-Anderson bill. We don't have much time left and the senior citizens in our area feel that they do not want the socialized welfare state medicine of the Kerr-Mills program. I want to call to your attention that in our area one of the biggest hospitals, the Presbyterian-University Hospital, which administers Kerr-Mills, has denied the right of the individual to select his doctor under the Kerr-Mills program. If this is not interference in the doctor-patient relationship, I do not know what is. This would not happen under King-Anderson social security as each person selects and pays his own doctor and the doctor and the patient select the hospital. Social security pays the hospital bill. Quote from a letter which went to a retiree about hospitalization under the State program. It reads: In our State we have about 1,175,000 people over age 65 (according to U.S. census estimate). We have over 300,000 families where the head of the family is over 65 and these people live on an average of $3,553 a year or $1,372 per person per year. The widows and widowers get only $824 per year. Bear these facts in mind. Last year only 13,000 people over 65 in Pennsylvania got Kerr-Mills, which most of us consider to be second-rate medicine. Even so, one-third of the people who went to welfare to ask for help were refused last year (Senate report). They only received help on hospital bills and nursing home bills not with the doctor, nothing else. Many couldn't choose the hospital or their doctor. A lot of money spent, over $10 million, but not many helped. It is rough for many of us. Here are some actual situations in my area: Mr. John Breda lived on a small pension, $167 for wife and self. He paid our Blue Cross and Blue Shield, $41.88 every 3 months. His wife had a stroke and the total bill was $1,651.14 of which the insurance paid half, $811.90. He paid the rest plus all the nurse care and drugs. It has left him in a mess. Mr. Domanico Bedont, 904 Evans Street, McKeesport, has a $77 a month pension, social security of $116 a month. Hospital bills (which he had to pay over and above his Blue Cross and Blue Shield) for one 9-month period, were: McKeesport Hospital, $1,509.62; nursing care, $1,248; doctor, $38; for a total of $2,795.62. Michael Butko, 815 Evans Street, McKeesport, had his wife in McKeesport Hospital and he had Blue Shield. Doctor bill, $80, Blue Shield paid $10; Butko paid $70. Oh, yes, Mr. Butko is an amputee and totally disabled. Mr. Dan Cusick of Crawford Village, McKeesport, paid over $500 above, and beyond his Blue Cross and Blue Shield on one operation. There are the reasons why a priest over at St. Mary's in McKeesport wrote me a letter saying that he and the congregation, composed of many pensioners, would be eternally grateful for the enactment of the King-Anderson bill. Also, I submit for the record the statements of the Turtle Creek Borough School Board and the City Council of East Pittsburgh, endorsing the King-Anderson bill. I have in my hand a batch of bills that only some of our members have paid recently. I hope you will act fast. The CHAIRMAN. The resolution will be included in the record in accordance with the desire of this person. (The statements are as follows:) TURTLE CREEK BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT RESOLUTION NO. 37-63 CONCERNING THE KING-ANDERSON BILL (H.R. 3920) PETITIONING THE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE TO ACT FAVORABLY ON SAME Whereas there are many pensioners and others over 65 in the Borough of Turtle Creek; and Whereas these senior citizens are less able to pay for medical bills at a time when bills come in more frequently; and Whereas the problems of the aging will get worse rather than better and the number of senior citizens will rise in proportion to the rest of the population; and Whereas it is the desire of the board of school directors to see that all citizens live and are able to care for themselves in accordance with the American tradition and: Therefore be it Resolved by the Board of School Directors of the School District of the Borough of Turtle Creek and it is hereby resolved, That the school board goes on record as favoring passage of King-Anderson bill; and That the honorable Committee on Ways and Means of the Congress report the bill (H.R. 3920) favorable out of committee. Resolved and enacted this 14th day of November 1963. Board of School Directors of the School District of the Borough of Turtle Creek, Allegheny County, Pa. DANIEL P. KELLY, President. RESOLUTION No. 602 CONCERNING THE KING-ANDERSON BILL (H.R. 3920) PETITIONING THE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE TO ACT FAVORABLY ON SAME Whereas there are many pensioners and others over 65 in the Borough of East Pittsburg; and Whereas these senior citizens are less able to pay for medical bills at a time when bills come in more frequently; and Whereas the problems of the aging will get worse rather than better and the number of senior citizens will rise in proportion to the rest of the population; and Whereas it is the desire of council to see that all citizens live and are able to care for themselves in accordance with the American tradition: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Council of the Borough of East Pittsburgh and it is hereby resolved: That council goes on record as favoring passage of King-Anderson bill and; That the honorable Committee on Ways and Means of the Congress report the bill (H.R. 3920) favorably out of committee. Enacted this 13th day of November 1963. Approved by the mayor: Ross NISE, President of Council. JAMES J. KELLY. Mr. FAIN. I live in Cincinnati, and I have to get back, and I am not scheduled to come before your committee until Saturday, and I was just wondering if I could make my short statement on this, or put it in the record. The CHAIRMAN. We will hear you if it is short. FURTHER STATEMENT OF GUY F. FAIN, GRAND PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED & VETERAN RAILWAY EMPLOYEES, GLENDALE, OHIO Mr. FAIN. Well, it is quick. My name is Guy Fain, and I am grand president of the National Association of Retired & Veteran Railroad Employees and I want to thank you for permitting me an opportunity to testify here today on behalf of the more than 25,000 members of this organization. Accompanying me is Mr. William Doyle, a vice president of our organization. My home is in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mr. Doyle comes from Somerset, Ky. I am sure those members of your committee who are familiar with southern Ohio and Kentucky are well aware of the generally depressed economic conditions in those areas in which many of our NARVE chapters are located. Lack of jobs is making life tough indeed for our sons and daughters. But for many of the people who are retired and on reduced incomes, the situation is actually desperate. However, the members of our association are convinced that no matter what the economic condition in any particular area or State, it is a fact that the older Americans the retired workers and their wives who live on reduced incomes-face distressing predicaments. There is the immediate problem of having to cut back on expenses and scrape along on a greatly reduced income. As worrying as this sometimes is, most of our retired are able to face up to this change with courage. But we have also learned that retirees over 65 are confronted-more than the young-with spiraling costs for health care of all kindsdrugs, institutional care, physicians' services, and other medical services. The fact is, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, that most of the retired people of this Nation are burdened with fear that sickness will come to them. They know that if sickness is prolonged, the skyrocketing costs of health care will reduce them to pauperage within months. We do not claim that retired railroaders are any different from other retired Americans in expressing their distaste for having to depend on the charity of others-be it from their children or their State or Federal Governments. Like other older Americans, these retired railroaders have helped build America to the great Nation it now is, but they are not looking for handouts. What modicum of security they now have, comes to them as a matter of right as part of their railroad retirement or social security system to which they have contributed during their working years. But Congress must realize that the present high cost of health care is making a mockery of the security achieved under social security and railroad retirement. Old people-faced with hospital bills totaling thousands of dollars-are having to mortgage their homes to raise the money. When this is not possible and their savings are gone they must seek public charity. In the King-Anderson bills which have been presented to this Ways and Means Committee in two successive Congresses, my organization believes you have in principle if not in actual detail-the best solution to this problem. Financed through the social security and railroad retirement system, it will help those over 65 now. Even more importantly, it will set up a system so that all the younger Americans now working will themselves be protected when retirement comes. For them, your acceptance of the principle of social security and railroad retirement financing for health care, will mean they can look forward to retirement without fear of hospital bills they cannot afford to pay. They will be able to accept this health care as a right. They will not need to beg for the pauper's oath medicine of the Kerr-Mills law. If you recommend this bill to Congress and it is enacted, it will be an achievement commensurate with the enactment of the Social Security and Railroad Retirement Acts-for without this logical extension to provide for health care there is little left of our security. No doubt you have heard the claims of those who oppose the social security approach-that the King-Anderson bills are not needed because so many of the elderly already have protection. I hope that this committee will seek to get the true story on how many of our older retired can actually afford adequate private insurance policies. I hope you will understand-as deeply as most of our old people understand-just how little their private insurance covers, even when they are able to afford it. Blue Cross-Blue Shield and the so-called 65 plans are raising their costs everywhere we look. We understand the situation. Private insurance cannot make a profit if they provide adequate insurance at rates old people can afford. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the many millions of Americans who exist largely on income from social security and railroad retirement-at an average of $20 per week; $50 for an old couple ask you to take action as early as you possibly can to answer their desperate dilemma. Pass H.R. 3920 to the full House for a vote. Delay this bill no longer. I will attach to this statement some details of actual health care bills which have burdened members of our association. One of my brothers in this association had to face hospital and other medical bills of $13,304.69 in 1962 and in 1963 he has spent $2,716.65 |