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Dr. HUNTER. Thank you very much.

Mr. FORAND. The next witness on the calendar is Mr. Gordon E. Brewer.

The Chair is advised that Mr. Brewer has consented to change places with Mr. Adolph Held. Is that correct?

Mr. BREWER. That is correct.

Mr. FORAND. Our next witnesses are Mr. Held and the delegation of the Council of Golden Ring Clubs.

Mr. Held, for the purpose of the record, will you identify yourself and those with you?

Your council has been allotted 15 minutes.

STATEMENT OF ADOLPH HELD, PRESIDENT, COUNCIL OF GOLDEN RING CLUBS OF SENIOR CITIZENS, NEW YORK, N.Y.

Mr. HELD. I will not take that much time.

Mr. FORAND. Before you start your statement, Mr. Keogh has a statement.

Mr. KEOGH. I wanted to be here when Mr. Held and his group were presented and I was momentarily called out.

I am sure, Mr. Chairman, you will recall that you had the pleasure of appearing before a meeting of this fine organization in New York as I have on occasions, and I am delighted to pay my respects to Mr. Held and to his associates for the great work they are doing in connection with the Golden Ring Clubs and, personally, I am delighted to see you all here in Washington.

Mr. FORAND. I may add right there that it was my pleasure last year or 2 years ago to speak before this group in Carnegie Hall where the place was packed to the rafters. There is real interest by this group in this proposal.

Mr. MASON. May I ask, Mr. Chairman, what are the qualifications for belonging to this Senior Golden Club? Is it just age?

Mr. HELD. It is age.

Mr. MASON. What is the age limit?

Mr. HELD. Sixty-five and over.

Mr. MASON. Well, I have been eligible for nearly 15 years.

Mr. HELD. We are very glad to meet you. You are very welcome. Mr. FORAND. You may proceed, Mr. Held.

Mr. HELD. My name is Adolph Held. I am president of the Council of the Golden Ring Clubs of Senior Citizens. This is a voluntary position. Professionally, I am director of the health and welfare department of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. I was formerly president of the Amalgamated Bank of New York.

I am accompanied to these hearings by Mr. Arthur Adams of the Big Six Pensioners Club, Typographical Union; Mr. Oscar Anderson of the Senior Citizens Community Center, St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Queens; Mr. Abraham Beder of the Washington Heights and Inwood Social Action Committee; Mr. Peter Gallegos, membership president, Sirovich Day Center (named after the late Representative William E. Sirovich); Mr. Louis Guss of the Golden Ring Club of Senior Citizens; Mrs. Fanny Kriegsfeld of the Golden Age Club, YM & YWHA; Mr. Zalman J. Lichtenstein, program director, Golden Ring Clubs; Mrs. Ann Mulrooney, president, Golden Age Drop-In Center, Pater

son, N.J.; Mr. Sam Resnick of the Golden Ring Clubs of Senior Citizens; and Mr. Antony Sassa of the Italian-American Golden Ring Club.

You were kind enough to permit us to make a statement before your committee last year for the improved social security benefits which you embodied in the final bill, for which accept our sincerest thanks.

We consider it a privilege to testify before you on the pending Forand bill. Its provisions are of vital importance to millions of senior citizens.

Older citizens face a major threat to their security when they become ill. Their meager income and limited savings are quickly wiped out when catastrophe strikes. The burden placed on their children is frequently unbearable.

Members of my delegations, if time permitted, could give you many cases of relatives and friends who were brought to destitution as a result of such illnesses.

The Forand bill, now being considered by you is, in our opinion, designed to help older people achieve a measure of security against the most dreaded disaster of later life-serious and expensive illness.

It is imperative that Congress enact this bill as soon as possible. The very wealthy among our senior citizens are amply protected. The very poor are also more fortunate in this respect. They may turn to the welfare departments of their localities which take care of the indigent. Caught in between are millions of the so-called middle group, who are financially not in a position to take care of their health in the years of retirement.

We are shocked to hear the advice of representatives of organized medicine that those not covered by private insurance, may, in case of need, turn to welfare agencies. This is an affront to the dignity of millions of men and women, who in the course of a lifetime have built a modest nest in which to live out the final stage of their lives. When catastrophic illness exhausts their savings, it is cruel to compound the tragedy by subjecting them to the means test for welfare support.

What strikes us as most illogical is the fear expressed by some doctors that the Forand bill would deprive the patients of freedom of choice of hospital and physician.

Nothing could be further from the facts. The Forand bill clearly states that persons eligible for social security benefits will have the right to choose any hospital, nursing home, or surgeon meeting specific broad standards of professional qualifications.

The bill provides that the cost, up to 60 days a year in a qualified hospital, including complete cost of all normal hospital and surgical services certified by a physician, will be covered. The bill for this care with the doctors' certification or the bill of the surgeon freely chosen by the patient will be submitted to the Social Security Administration.

The medical profession does not object when such bills go to Blue Cross, Blue Shield, or to private insurance companies-but why do they object to the old age and survivors' insurance receiving the bills?

The recent flooding of offers by private insurance companies to furnish health insurance to elderly people is rather interesting. It is not so long ago that insurance companies discontinued such insurance when the insured retired from work. Frequently, the insurance

companies canceled the insurance after the first prolonged illness. We are rather suspicious of the present offers of the insurance companies. It seems to us that this is an attempt to stymie the Forand bill.

The latest offers of the companies is but a caricature of the provisions in the Forand bill. These policies offer $100 per day for hospital care for 31 days and a surgical allowance of $5 to $200. These benefits are far from sufficient to cover actual catastrophic costs.

The proponents of private health insurance for elderly people seem also to overlook the fact that three-fifth of our aging population have incomes of around $1,000 per year. The cost of such 65-plus insurance plans would eat up a substantial part of their already inadequate income.

The Federal insurance plan, such as proposed in the Forand bill would solve this problem on a sensible basis. Some critics say that such insurance would be a heavy tax on our economy. These critics predict that it would cost about $2 billion a year. With the great strides in gross production in our country, such an expenditure is not too great. Our annual gross national income is now well over $400 billion. Surely the health and dignity of our senior citizens are fully deserving of one half of 1 percent of our economy.

We are proud to find that the great labor organization, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations hold the same position as we. They have fully endorsed the purposes of this bill and we are happy to join them in their effort.

We owe it to our senior citizens to guarantee the fall and winter years of their lives. The Forand bill proposes to raise social security payments by one-half percent. This would guarantee our veteran citizens high quality care in hospitals and nursing institutions, the preservation of good health and a speedy return to their own homes and an enjoyable life.

The 70 million now employed in business and factories throughout our great country will be happy to contribute to this new feature of health security, just as we were when we laid the foundation for the social security system.

The lawmakers of our country are building a healthier and more abundant America. Gentlemen, by speedy enactment of the proposed Forand bill, you will show vision and will alleviate unnecessary suffering of millions of our senior citizens.

Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. We thank you, sir, for coming to the committee, and we thank those who have accompanied you to the witness table. We appreciate your statement representing the views of the Council of Golden Ring Clubs.

Are there any questions of Mr. Held?

We thank all of you for coming.

Mr. FORAND. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that correspondence received from the Honorable William H. Meyer, the Congressman from the State of Vermont; Mr. George O. Shecter, administrator of the American Hospital in Los Angeles, Calif.; Mr. Thomas G. Walters with the Government Employees' Council of the AFL-CIO; and Dr. Gustav Loewenstein be inserted in the record at this point.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, they will appear at this point.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D.C., July 2, 1959.

Hon. WILBUR D. MILLS,

Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee,

House Office Building.

DEAR CHAIRMAN MILLS: I write to indicate my support for H.R. 4700, the Forand bill, to provide insurance against the cost of nursing home and surgical services to those receiving old-age and survivors benefits.

I believe that such an extension of our social security system is warranted as an effort to assist those who are not able to protect themselves from the eventualities of medical and hospital expenses at a time when they are dependent upon social security benefits. Such care is needed if the ever-increasing cost of medical expenses are to be met by retired persons, widows, and others who are covered by the social security system. I have had numerous indications of support for such legislation from Vermont, and there is great need for medical assistance of this type in our State.

I would appreciate having an early chance to consider this bill on the floor of the House.

With best personal regards.
Sincerely yours,

WILLIAM H. MEYER.

AMERICAN HOSPITAL,

Re hospitalization for people over 65.
Hon. WILBUR D. MILLS,

House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles, Calif., July 17, 1959.

DEAR MR. MILLS: I would like to express to you my very strong support for H.R. 4700, a bill to provide insurance against the cost of hospital and surgical services for recipients under OASI.

I am of the opinion, however, that the bill is too generous in providing 60 days of hospitalization in each 12-month period and up to 120 days of nursing home care in a 12-month period. I would like to see this reduced until substantial experience has been gained.

The bill, itself, is well written and it is my hope that your committee will approve it as soon as possible.

Respectfully yours,

GEORGE O. SHECTER,
Administrator.

Hon. WILBUR D. MILLS,

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYES' COUNCIL OF THE AFL-CIO,
Washington, D.C., July 6, 1959.

Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee,
House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

MY DEAR CHAIRMAN MILLS: By way of introduction I am Thomas G. Walters, operations director of the Government Employes' Council, AFL-CIO. The council is made up of 24 national and international unions and associations whose membership, in whole or in part, are Federal and postal employees, representing a membership in excess of one-half million.

On behalf of the Government Employes' Council I express to Congressman Aime J. Forand our thanks and appreciation for the introduction of H.R. 4700, and to you, Mr. Chairman, for scheduling hearings on this most important and much needed legislation.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity of presenting this statement as an endorsement of the intent of H.R. 4700. We believe that we have waited much too long to give some hospital and medical attention to our older people, and we trust that this committee will favorably report legislation having for its purpose the intent of H.R. 4700.

Appreciate the opportunity of having the privilege of endorsing this type of legislation.

Most sincerely,

THOMAS G. WALTERS,
Operations Director.

LITTLE FALLS, N.Y., July 11, 1959.

Hon. WILBUR D. MILLS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.O.

DEAR SIR: Having spent 30 years in the (successful) practice of medicine as a general practitioner, as a physician in mental institutions, and in the private practice of psychiatry I feel qualified to express an opinion: All is not well with providing adequate medical care for the people in general, for the aged in particular, claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

I am in favor of the Forand bill.

Very truly yours,

GUSTAV LOEWENSTEIN, M.D.,

Member, New York State Medical Society, the AMA and the American Psychiatric Association.

The CHAIRMAN. Our next witness is Dr. Hampton.

Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Chairman, while Dr. Hampton is taking his seat, I should like to present him to the committee. He is a warm personal friend of mine, a distinguished member of the medical profession of the State of Florida.

He is the chairman of the committee on legislation and public policy of the Florida Medical Association, an association in which, in my judgment, is a most progressive association and which is doing something about this problem of medical assistance to the elderly in a State which has probably as high or a higher percentage of elderly people among its population as any other State.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

Dr. Hampton, if you will, give us your full name, address, and the capacity in which you appear.

STATEMENT OF DR. H. PHILLIP HAMPTON, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION AND PUBLIC POLICY, FLORIDA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

Dr. HAMPTON. Thank you.

I am Dr. H. Phillip Hampton, of Tampa, Fla., where I am engaged in the private practice of medicine.

The CHAIRMAN. You are representing the Florida Medical Association?

Dr. HAMPTON. Yes, sir. I am representing the Florida Medical Association as a member of the board of governors of the legislative and public policy committee.

The CHAIRMAN. You are recognized, sir, for 5 minutes.

Dr. HAMPTON. Thank you, sir.

Due to limitations, I will not be able to read my entire statement. The CHAIRMAN. It will appear in the record.

Dr. HAMPTON. Thank you, sir.

If a problem in the economy and distribution of medical and hospital care exists in this country, can it not be solved by application of American ingenuity with the incentive and under the proven principles which have been our strength and not resort to questionably effective plans as tried by other governments foreign to our way and destructive of our traditional principles?

That was the purpose of the medical doctors of Florida when, in 1954, they requested the Governor to appoint a committee to study the

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