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UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

DIVISION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20402
OFFICIAL BUSINESS

POSTAGE AND FEES PAID

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

Health Insurance Enrollment Under Social Security:

Number of Persons by State and County, July 1, 1966

Washington: Social Security Administration, Office of
Research and Statistics, Division of Health Studies,
1967. 104 pages. 60 cents.

Presents tables on enrollment for hospital and medical
services under health insurance for the aged. The data show,
for both parts of the program, the number of persons aged
65 and over who were enrolled as the program began, by
geographic division, as well as by State and county.

Orders should be directed to the Superintendent of Docu-
ments, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
20402.

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The Social Security Bulletin is for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 20402. Price: $2.75 a year in the United States, Canada, and Mexico; $3.50 in all other countries; single copies, 25 cents. Price of the 1955 Supplement, 40 cents; 1956 Supplement, 45 cents; 1957 Supplement, 50 cents; 1959 Supplement, 55 cents; 1960 Supplement, 60 cents; 1962 Supplement, 60 cents; 1963 Supplement, 60 cents; 1964 Supplement, 50 cents.

Use of funds for printing this publication has been approved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget (April 7, 1964).

NOTE: Contents of this publication are not copyrighted; any items may be reprinted, but citation of the Social Security Bulletin as the

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
JOHN W. GARDNER, Secretary

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
ROBERT M. BALL, Commissioner

OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND STATISTICS
IDA C. MERRIAM, Assistant Commissioner

Advisory Committee on Research Development
MARGARET GORDON, Chairman

E. CARY BROWN, JACOB FELDMAN
GEORGE H. HILDEBRAND, NATHAN KBYFITZ

JAMES MORGAN, EUGENE SMOLENSKY, FREDERICK F. STEPHAN

Social Security in Review

LCROSITED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

PROGRAM OPERATIONS

OASDI Benefits

ALMOST 23 million persons were receiving monthly cash benefits under the old-age, survivors, disability, and health insurance (OASDHI) program at the end of February 1967. Not quite 2 million of these persons were disabled workers and their dependents, 14.9 million were retired workers and their dependents, 5.4 million were survivors of deceased workers, and about 700,000 were "special age-72" beneficiaries.

The number of benefits currently payable rose about 1.8 million since February 1966. The major components of this rise were the new special age72 benefits, which added nearly 700,000 beneficiaries in the 5-month period since such benefits became payable, and retired-worker benefits, which rose about 450,000. The number of widow and widower benefits and of child benefits were each about 200,000 higher than the number a year earlier, and disabled-worker benefits increased about 100,000. The other benefits remained at about the same level throughout the 12-month period.

Almost 294,000 monthly benefit awards were made in February, about 17,000 more than in January. Roughly 125,000 of the persons with newly awarded benefits were retired workers and their dependents, 75,000 were survivors of deceased workers, 50,000 were disabled workers and their families, and 43,000 were persons receiving special age-72 benefits. Monthly benefit awards to retired workers that were not currently payable declined to about 18 percent of all awards in that category in February, the lowest proportion since the middle of 1965.

Reduced monthly benefits awarded to retired workers before age 65 took a sharp upward jump,

as a percent of all awards to retired workers, in the second half of 1966. By the end of 1966, nearly half the retired-worker benefit awards to men and almost two-thirds of the awards to women were reduced-proportions very close to those in early 1965.

Monthly benefit checks for about 1.4 million persons on the beneficiary rolls were being withheld at the end of December 1966, about 125,000 more than at the end of September. Continued employment with earnings sufficiently large to offset monthly benefits was the chief reason for withholding benefits for about 950,000 persons— the effect, no doubt, of the presence on the rolls of employed persons who were establishing eligibility for health insurance benefits. In addition, about 100,000 persons had their special age-72 benefits withheld because they were receiving public assistance payments or were eligible for other government pensions that were higher than

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$35.00 (for a single person) or $52.50 (for a couple).

At the end of February the monthly rate of benefits was about $1,656 million, $10 million more than in the previous month. About 68 percent of these benefits being paid were for retired workers and their dependents. In addition, lumpsum payments totaling $19 million were made on the accounts of 87,000 deceased workers.

Health Insurance Benefits

In February more than 435,000 hospital admission notices were received by the Social Security Administration for aged individuals covered under the health insurance program. Since the beginning of the program in July 1966, more than 3.5 million hospital admission notices have been received.

Almost 37,000 extended-care admission notices were received in February. Since the beginning of the post-hospital extended-care benefit in January 1967, almost 65,000 extended-care admission notices have been received.

From July 1966 to the end of February, more than $1.3 billion has been drawn from the hospital insurance trust fund, and $243 million of this amount was drawn in February 1967. During the same period, $272 million has been drawn from the supplementary medical insurance trust fund, with $76 million of this amount drawn in February 1967 alone.

Tables M-17 to M-20, appearing for the first time in the Current Operating Statistics section of the BULLETIN, present monthly statistics recorded in the Social Security Administration tape records. Included are claims for inpatient hospital, outpatient diagnostic, and home health services under the hospital insurance program and bills for physicians', home health, outpatient hospital, independent laboratory, and all other services under the medical insurance program.

For July 1966-February 1967, a total of 2.7 million hospital insurance claims amounting to $1.1 billion in reimbursements were approved for payment as of April 2. Inpatient hospital care accounts for 2.5 million claims representing 32.2 million days of care and $1.4 billion in charges, of which $1.1 billion was reimbursed.

For the same period, medical insurance bills for physicians' and related medical services

totaled 4.1 million and amounted to $329 million or an average of $80 per bill. Physicians' services comprised about nine-tenths of these bills and 96 percent of the charges.

PUBLIC INCOME-MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS
CONTINUE RISE

Payments in February 1967 under public income-maintenance programs totaled $4,051 million $582 million more than the amount paid out in February 1966. Benefits payments under OASDHI accounted for nearly three-fourths of the year's increase. The rise of $43 million from January's total is roughly the same as the average month-to-month growth in the past 12 months. Unemployment insurance payments declined about $5 million from the preceding month, and the number of beneficiaries under the program was the lowest reported for February since 1956. RISE IN TOTAL PA CASELOADS AND PAYMENTS In February, 8.2 million persons received public assistance payments-77,000 more than in January.

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