community life and activity within the limits of their capacity. They do not wish to be shunted to an institution, but often they have used up their resources, and family and friends are not available for support. What they do need most is a facility with housekeeping assistance, central food service, and minor nursing from time to time. The provision of such facilities would defer for many years the much more expensive type of nursing home or hospital care which would otherwise be required.

To meet the special needs of this group, facilities have been constructed in many communities, and many more should be constructed. Such buildings can be small, with facilities for group dining, recreation, and health services; and they should be integrated with the various community resources which can sustain and encourage independent living as long as possible. I am requesting (a) that the Housing and Home Finance Administrator give greater emphasis to the construction of group residences suitable for older families and individuals who need this partial personal care, and (b) that the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, using the funds under the proposed Senior Citizen's Act and other resources already available to his Department, work with communities to assure that health and social services are provided efficiently for the residents of such facilities in accordance with comprehensive local plans.

(c) Eligibility of single elderly persons for moderate income housing.—— One of the new programs authorized by the Housing Act of 1961 which is already achieving substantial success finances rental housing, at below-market rates of interest, for families whose incomes are not low enough to qualify for public housing, but not high enough to afford housing financed on private market terms. This program is providing good housing to many moderate income families of all ages caught in the income squeeze. However, under the law it is limited to families; single persons are not included. About half of America's senior citizens are in a single or widowed status and therefore cannot obtain the benefits of such housing. Modification of this program is needed if it is to serve them. I recommend that the Congress amend the law to make single elderly persons eligible, if they otherwise qualify, to live in housing financed under section 221(d) (3) of the National Housing Act.

(d) Home financing.-Many of the homes of our older citizens require modernization or rehabilitation. Other older citizens need or prefer to sell their homes and realize their investment in it. Unfortunately, such actions too often involve a substantial financial sacrifice. I am directing the President's Council on Aging to study these problems and develop a program to assist older citizens with the modernization, rehabilitation, or sale of their individually owned homes, such program to be submitted to me by October 31 of this year.

VI. COMMUNITY ACTION

The heart of our program for the elderly must be opportunity for and actual service to our older citizens in their home communities. The loneliness or apathy which exists among many of our aged is heightened by the wall of inertia which often exists between them and their community.

We must remove this wall by planned, comprehensive action to stimulate or provide not only opportunities for employment and

community services by our older citizens but the full range of the various facilities and services which aged individuals need for comfortable and meaningful life. I believe that in each State government specific responsibility should be clearly assigned for stimulating and coordinating programs on aging; and that every locality of 25,000 population or above should make similar provision, possibly in the form of a community health and welfare council with a strong section on aging.

The Federal Government can assume a significant leadership role in stimulating such actions. To do this, I recommend a 5-year program of assistance to State and local agencies and voluntary organizations for planning and developing services; for research, demonstration, and training projects leading to new or improved programs to aid older people; and for construction, renovation, and equipment of public and nonprofit multipurpose activity and recreational centers for the elderly.

The assistance to be provided under this legislation will not duplicate other grant programs; indeed, it will make possible the more effective use of grants for such purposes as health, housing, and other services. Developing a comprehensive community plan will enable communities to discover where gaps exist, where unnecessary duplications lie, where health grants are most needed, and where sound social service or adult education or senior housing developments should be strengthened.

Among the demonstration projects which can be developed under this program would be the establishment of single, one-stop centralized information and referral offices, to avoid the need of an aged person seeking assistance from as many as a dozen agencies before finding the particular service or combination of services he needs-and the construction of multipurpose activity centers providing older people with educational experiences promoting health, literacy, and mental alertness, with information concerning available community services, and with an opportunity to volunteer for helping others in a variety of community programs.

This legislation is of real importance to our older citizens, and to the State and local agencies which can be strengthened by it. I strongly urge its enactment.

VII. OTHER LEGISLATION

Other measures previously recommended and not specifically designed for older citizens can be of immense benefit to them. For example:

Too many senior citizens are wasting away in obsolete mental institutions without adequate treatment or care. The mental health program previously recommended can help restore many of them to their communities and homes.

Too many elderly people with small incomes skimp on food at a time when their health requires greater quantity, variety, and balance in their diets. The pilot food stamp program recommended in my farm message could improve their nutrition and health.

Of the more than 171⁄2 million persons aged 65 and over, about 14 million did not finish high school, some 6 million of these did not finish grade school, and over 1 million received no education at all. The comprehensive educational program previously recommended would encourage Federal-State programs of general university extension for

those previously unable to take college courses, and adult basic education for those who are considered to be functionally illiterate. The largest percentage of illiteracy still existing in this country is found among men and women 65 and over. To gain the ability to read and write could bring them a new vision of the world in their later years. Increased library services provided under this program would also be of particular interest to older people.

Finally, the District of Columbia should make every effort to take full advantage of Federal legislation aiding senior citizens. There is no reason why the District of Columbia should not be a leader and a model in its community senior citizen program.

CONCLUSION

Our aged have not been singled out in this special message to segregate them from other citizens. Rather, I have sought to emphasize the important values that can accrue to us as a nation if we would but recognize fully the facts concerning our older citizens-their numbers, their situation in the modern world, and their unutilized potential.

Our national record in providing for our aged is a proud and hopeful one. But it can and must improve. We can continue to move forward by building needed Federal programs, by developing means for comprehensive action in our communities, and by doing all we can, as a nation and as individuals, to enable our senior citizens to achieve both a better standard of life and a more active, useful and meaningful role in a society that owes them much and can still learn much from them. JOHN F. KENNEDY.

THE WHITE HOUSE, February 21, 1963.

FACT SHEETS ON THE MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS IN

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE ON OLDER PEOPLE

HOSPITAL INSURANCE ACT OF 1963-A program to provide financial protection to all older people against the major costs of hospital care and related health services (fact sheet No. 1).

EQUAL MEDICAL CARE SERVICES UNDER MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO THE AGED AND OLDAGE ASSISTANCE-A proposal to require that a State plan provide for at least as much medical care for those on old-age assistance as is available in that State under medical care for the aged (Kerr-Mills) (fact sheet No. 2). REMOVAL OF THE 42-DAY LIMITATION ON CARE FOR MENTAL ILLNESS AND TUBERCULOSIS IN GENERAL MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS-A proposal to permit States to use Federal funds to provide care in general hospitals for mentally ill or tuberculous patients beyond the present limit of 42 days (fact sheet No. 3). INCREASED FUNDS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF NURSING HOMES-A proposed change in the Hill-Burton hospital construction program to increase funds available for nursing homes to provide needed facilities for older people not requiring intensive hospitalization (fact sheet No. 4).

CONSUMER PROTECTION "THERAPEUTIC" DEVICES-A proposed requirement that manufacturers prove such devices to be both safe and effective before marketing as a further protection to older people and others against medical quackery (fact sheet No. 5).

CONSUMER PROTECTION-CAUTIONARY LABELING OF HAZARDOUS ARTICLES FOR USE IN THE HOME-A requirement that would bring additional products under the protective labeling authority of the Food and Drug Administration (fact sheet No. 6).

CONSUMER INFORMATION ON CHOICE OF FOOD AND DRUGS-An expanded program to inform people generally and older people particularly about economic cheats and health risks of nostrums and quack products (fact sheet No. 7). THE TAX PROGRAM FOR THE AGED-The benefits of the President's proposed tax program to older people (fact sheet No. 8).

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS AND FINANCING-A comprehensive new study of the total social security system, to be started this year (fact sheet No. 9).

REDUCTION OF OLD-AGE ASSISTANCE RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS TO 1 YEAR-A proposed progressive reduction of the 5-year residence requirement permitted in the present law (fact sheet No. 10).

PROTECTIVE SERVICES FOR OLD-AGE ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS-A proposal to permit third-party payments to older public assistance recipients who are too incapacitated to handle their own money (fact sheet No. 11). STANDARDS IN HOUSING OCCUPIED BY OLD-AGE ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS-A proposal to require that State plans provide for the establishment of minimum standards of rental housing for those on old-age assistance (fact sheet No. 12). EXPANDING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES-A proposal for research and demonstration projects and other measures to promote useful employment for older workers (fact sheet No. 13).

FEDERAL-STATE ACTION TO COMBAT AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT-A new directive by the President to all Federal agencies to consider job applicants and employees on the basis of ability, not age, and a call to all employers to follow similar policies (fact sheet No. 14).

NATIONAL SERVICE CORPS-The role of older people as both beneficiaries and participants (fact sheet No. 15).

CONTINUED FUNDS FOR DIRECT LOANS FOR MODERATE RENTAL HOUSING-A proposed extension of the present program to provide additional rental housing for older people (fact sheet No. 16).

HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY IN RURAL AREAS-A request for appropriations to permit housing loans for rental to older people in rural areas (fact sheet No. 17).

CONSTRUCTION OF GROUP-CARE RESIDENCES-Renewed emphasis on construction of suitable housing for older people needing partial care (fact sheet No. 18). INCLUSION OF ELDERLY SINGLE PERSONS IN BELOW-MARKET INTEREST-RATE HOUSING-A proposed extension of the present program to single elderly people as well as couples (fact sheet No. 19). COMMUNITY ACTION GRANT PROGRAM-GRANTS TO STATES FOR PLANNING, COORDINATION, AND DEVELOPMENT OF SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY-A proposed program for statewide planning for older people under a single State agency, including community pilot demonstration projects (fact sheet No. 20). COMMUNITY ACTION GRANT PROGRAM-DIRECT RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND TRAINING GRANTS-A proposed program of direct grants to public and nonprofit agencies to support research, demonstration, and training in aspects of aging (fact sheet No. 21).

COMMUNITY ACTION GRANT PROGRAM-GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SENIOR RECREATION AND ACTIVITY CENTERS-A proposed grant program for the construction of activity and recreation centers for senior citizens (fact sheet No. 22). COMMODITY DONATION PROGRAM (SURPLUS FOODS)-An expansion of the present program of providing surplus food to qualified persons (fact sheet No. 23). FOOD STAMP ACT OF 1963-A progressive extension of the food stamp program to enable more low-income people, particularly older people, to buy more food (fact sheet No. 24).

ADULT BASIC EDUCATION-A proposal to enable States to establish basic education courses for adults in the public schools to help end illiteracy and nearilliteracy, particularly prevalent among older people (fact sheet No. 25). UNIVERSITY EXTENSION EDUCATION-A proposal to help State universities and land-grant colleges expand at the college level or above, to enable older citizens to continue their formal education or obtain new professional skills (fact sheet No. 26).

LIBRARY SERVICES-A proposed extension of the Library Services Act to include urban as well as rural areas and a proposed library construction grant program (fact sheet No. 27).

TEACHER PREPARATION-A proposal to help colleges strengthen courses preparing elementary and secondary school teachers and teachers needing specialized courses, to enable older people to return or to enter the teaching profession (fact sheet No. 28).

Fact Sheet No. 1

HOSPITAL INSURANCE FOR OLDER PEOPLE THROUGH SOCIAL SECURITY (AN EXPLANATION OF THE ADMINISTRATION'S PROGRAM)

BACKGROUND

There are now about 17.5 million people in this country who are 65 or older. Their numbers continue to increase. Most of them have little or no financial protection against serious illness. And they cannot afford protection.

This is their problem: Older people, on the average, have incomes about half those of younger people. At the same time, their need for medical care is about 21⁄2 times that of people under 65.

These are the facts:

Nearly half the aged couples have incomes of less than $2,500 a year; almost half the aged persons living alone have incomes of less than $1,000.

About 14 million people 65 and over have incomes so low they do not have to pay Federal income taxes.

Only about half of the aged population have any sort of health insurance, and much of what they have is inadequate with respect to both coverage and benefits.

The greatest single threat to the economic security of older people is the high cost of illness. Nine out of ten who reach 65