(b) For purposes of this title, the term "medical assistance for the aged" means payment of part or all of the cost of the following care and services for individuals who are sixty-five years of age or older and who are not recipients of aid to the aged, blind, or disabled but whose income and resources are insufficient to meet all of such cost— (1) inpatient hospital services; (2) skilled nursing-home services; (3) physicians' services; (4) outpatient hospital or clinic services; (5) home health care services; (6) private duty nursing services; (7) physical therapy and related services; (8) dental services; (9) laboratory and X-ray services; (10) prescribed drugs, eyeglasses, dentures, and prosthetic devices; (12) any other medical care or remedial care recognized under State law; (B) care or services for any individual, who is a patient in a medical institution as a result of a diagnosis of tuberculosis or psychosis, with respect to any period after the individual has been a patient in such an institution, as a result of such diagnosis, for forty-two days. SECTION 303 OF SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS OF 1961 ADDITIONAL FEDERAL PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS SEC. 303. (a) (1) Section 3(a)(1) of the Social Security Act is amended(A) by striking out "$30" and inserting in lieu thereof "$31"; (B) by striking out "$65" each place it appears therein and inserting in lieu thereof "$66"; and (C) by striking out "$80" and inserting in lieu thereof "$81". (2) Section 3 (a) (2) of such Act is amended (A) by striking out "$35" each place it appears therein and inserting in lieu thereof “$35.50"; and (B) by striking out "$42.50" and inserting in lieu thereof "$43”. (b) (1) Section 1003 (a) (1) of such Act is amended (A) by striking out "$30" and inserting in lieu thereof "$31"; and (2) Section 1003 (a) (2) of such Act is amended by striking out "$35" and inserting in lieu thereof "$35.50". (c) (1) Section 1403 (a) (1) of such Act is amended (A) by striking out "$30" and inserting in lieu thereof “$31”; and (2) Section 1403 (a) (2) of such Act is amended by striking out "$35” and inserting in lieu thereof "$35.50". (d) Effective only for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1962, section 1108 of the Social Security Act (as amended by section 6 of Public Law 87-31) is amended by striking out "$9,425,000", "$318,750", and "$425,000" and inserting in lieu thereof "$9,500,000”, “$320,000”, and “$430,000", respectively. (e) The amendments made by subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section shall apply only in the case of expenditures made after September 30, 1961, [and before July 1, 1962,] under a State plan approved under title I, X, or XIV, as the case may be, of the Social Security Act. SECTION 618 OF THE REVENUE ACT OF 1951, AS AMENDED SECTION 618. PROHIBITION UPON DENIAL OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACT FUNDS No State or any agency or political subdivision thereof shall be deprived of any grant-in-aid or other payment to which it otherwise is or has become en titled pursuant to title I (other than section 3 (a) (3) thereof, IV, X, [or] XIV, or XVI (other than section 1603 (a) (3) thereof) of the Social Security Act, as amended, by reason of the enactment or enforcement by such State of any legislation prescribing any conditions under which public access may be had to records of the disbursement of any such funds or payments within such State, if such legislation prohibits the use of any list or names obtained through such access to such records for commercial or political purposes. Our first witness today is our former colleague in the House, the Honorable Abraham Ribicoff, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Mr. Secretary, we are always pleased to have you return to the House of Representatives and particularly to the Ways and Means Committee. We welcome you this morning and you may proceed in any manner that you desire. STATEMENT OF HON. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, SECRETARY, ACCOMPANIED BY WILBUR J. COHEN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY (FOR LEGISLATION); WILLIAM L. MITCHELL, COMMISSIONER, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION; AND CHARLES E. HAWKINS, LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE OFFICER, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Secretary RIBICOFF. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. With me here at the table is Wilbur Cohen, Assistant Secretary; William Mitchell, Commissioner of Social Security; and Charles Hawkins, legislative reference officer, Social Security Administration. I appear before you in support of H.R. 10032, which was introduced by Chairman Mills under the title of "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962." This landmark bill will bring a new spirit in our public welfare program. Section 2 of the bill outlines the six new objectives of the legislation: (1) Services: Services to help families become self-supporting and independent. (2) Prevention: Prevention of dependency by dealing with the problems causing dependency. (3) Incentives: Incentives to recipients of public assistance to improve their condition so as to make public assistance unnecessary and incentives to the States to improve their welfare programs. (4) Rehabilitation: Services to rehabilitate recipients or those likely to become recipients of public assistance. (5) Independence: Useful community work and training programs and other measures to assist recipients to become self-supporting and able to care for themselves. (6) Training: Assistance in the provision of training in order to increase the supply of adequately trained public welfare personnel, this being necessary for achieving the foregoing objectives. It is a quarter century since the Congress enacted the Social Security Act and authorized the basic Federal-State public welfare programs which have played such a vital part in building our Nation's strength and well-being. Yet, as President Kennedy said in his special message of February 1 to the Congress on welfare: The times, the conditions, the problems have changed-and the nature and objectives of our public assistance and child welfare programs must be changed, also, if they are to meet our human needs. We now have the historic and constructive opportunity to reinforce these programs-to bring them up to date-and so to benefit our Nation and all of its people. A CAREFUL REAPPRAISAL With these thoughts in mind, I promised this committee and the Senate Finance Committee last year that we would undertake a careful and thorough review of the Federal welfare laws and have a legislative program ready to propose in 1962. This has now been done. In making this thorough and extensive review, we have asked and received the help of State and local welfare officials and persons who are leaders in voluntary welfare throughout the Nation. First, we brought together a consultative group composed of the distinguished persons in public and private welfare, a group which was called the Ad Hoc Committee on Public Welfare. With the help of a professional staff and financial aid from the Field Foundation, this Committee devoted many months to an intensive study of the problems and prospects for public assistance in the next decade. I am pleased to submit its final report for the record. (The report referred to above follows:) Report of Ad Hoc Committee on Public Welfare to The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare September 1961 AD HOC COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WELFARE Revised September 26, 1961 September 6, 1961 Chairman Sanford Solender Executive Vice-President National Jewish Welfare Board 145 East 32nd Street New York 16, N. Y. Secretary Harleigh B. Trecker School of Social Work University of Connecticut Consultant Wayne Vasey Dean Graduate School of Social Work Rutgers University New Brunswick, N. J. Members Joseph P. Anderson Clark W. Blackburn Fedele Fauri Very Rev. Msgr. Raymond Gallagher Raleigh C. Hobson Dr. Trude W. Losh Norman V. Lourie Judge Justine W. Polier Joseph H. Reid Mrs. Pauline Ryman John W. Tramburg Dr. William J. Villaume Dr. Ellen B, Winston Dr. Ernest F. Witte Dr. Whitney M. Young, Jr. Honorable Abraham A. Ribicoff Health, Education, and Welfare Washington 25, D.C. Dear Mr. Secretary: The Ad Hoc Committee on Public Welfare, appointed in May 1961, is pleased to present its report to you herewith. In response to your charge to the committee, its recommendations are formulated in the following two closely related areas: Immediate Steps, which include proposals on aid to dependent children (ADC), illegitimacy, work relief, residence requirements, child welfare, aid to permanently and totally disabled (APTD), voucher payments, earnings of youth; and Proposals for Further Action, which deal with assistance and rehabilitative services to families, improvements in the training of personnel to render these services, needed research and demonstration, and child welfare. The committee expresses its appreciation to the Field Foundation whose generous support has enabled it to carry out its work. It is grateful as well to staff members of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, who supplied the committee with needed information its requested, and to the many individuals and organizations who so generously gave the committee the benefit of their experience and counsel. Special acknowledgement is due Wayne Vasey, Dean of the School of Social Work of Rutgers University, for his skilled and indefatigable service as consultant to the committee; and Mrs. Virginia Doscher, who assisted in the preparation of the committee's final document. |