Bicentennial Charter for Older Americans. I have asked Additional mention should be made of the substantial con- These reports will be sent for review and analysis to those Federal agencies serving older persons. After this review, decisions on the recommendations contained in the Council's report will be reflected in future legislative proposals and administrative actions of this administration. FCA PRIORITY PROJECTS IN 1976 While the far-reaching goals of the Bicentennial Charter for Older Americans serve as a guide for the overall concerns of the Federal Council on the Aging, it has always been realized that current and specific activities of the Council had to be limited in order to achieve the greatest impact on the most pressing issues. The Council has felt that it could not address all the problems of all older Americans but should focus on matters of Federal policy affecting actions of the executive and legislative branches of the Government for the benefit of the greatest number of the elderly with the greatest need. The Council did not want to duplicate the fine advocacy work and role of such bodies as the Administration on Aging, the National Institute on Aging, the Senate Special Committee on Aging, the House Select Committee on Aging, and the national membership and professional groups in the field of aging. Also, the Council felt its work had to be related to recommendations with some likelihood of being implemented within a reasonable period of time. In this context, the 1976 Council program consisted of work on certain issues identified within a priority-setting process and of varying intensity and range. There were three major Council projects. A "project" usually involves the concentrated effort of an assigned subunit of the Council, studies by national experts and institutions, conferences, seminars, and resultant recommendations for national legislative or administrative action. The two studies on taxes and benefits were projects completed in 1975 which contained the elements of two of the 1976 projects. The activity on the problems around the treatment of assets and asset income was a specific outcome and is described in a separate chapter in this annual report. The project on the "frail elderly" is also set forth later on and it too draws from conclusions in the study of benefits which showed the overlapping, confusing myriad of Federal benefit and service programs which still result in many unmet needs for many older Americans. Health manpower needs in the field of aging were a concern of the Council's predecessor body, the Advisory Committee on Older Ameri cans. Because the issues identified several years ago have yet to be conclusively addressed and because of the Council's mandated responsibility to assist the Commissioner on Aging in appraising personnel need in the field of aging, a project in this important area was formulated during this past year and is described later in this report. BICENTENNIAL CHARTER FOR OLDER AMERICANS As its special contribution to the marking of the Nation's 200th birthday, the Federal Council prepared a "Bicentennial Charter for Older Americans” and transmitted it to the President in the FCA 1975 annual report. In a White House Rose Garden ceremony on April 5 proclaiming May 1976 as "Older Americans Month," the President recognized the Council's preparation of the Bicentennial Charter and urged all State and area agencies on aging and other private and public organizations related to the field of aging to observe this month by arranging public forums where the charter would be discussed and recommendations developed for implementation. The President later described the charter as "one of the Council's major achievements—a bill of rights for America's senior citizens, a testament of our Nation's heartfelt concern for our older citizens." Almost 100,000 charters went to State and area agencies on aging, nutrition projects, the major national organizations in the field of aging, the National Commission for International Women's Year, ACTION's older Americans volunteer programs offices and State commissions on the status of women. The Administration on Aging aided in the distribution of the charters and developed guidelines on the holding of forums and the means whereby resultant recommendations would reach the Council for appropriate action. The charter has been translated into Spanish and will be available to Spanish heritage groups in early 1977. PLANNING FOR NEXT WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON AGING In attempting to give attention those national policy issues of major importance to the lives of older Americans. the Council has always used the recommendations resulting from the White House Conference on Aging as basic resource material. A later section of this report contains an analysis of major Federal actions taken since the 1971 WHCOA which implement conference recommendations. The Council has also had an ongoing concern about the substance and process of past and future White House Conferences on Aging. An inquiry from Senator Frank Church, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging asking for Council views on a midway conference on aging in 1977, served as the stimulus for a full review of planning requirements for the next decennial White House Conference on Aging. Accordingly, at the September meeting of the Council, it was agreed that 1977 would be a propitious time to initiate necessary preliminary activities for a 1980 White House Conference on Aging. Letters containing Council recommendations were sent to Senator Church and other congressional and administration leaders in October. The Council suggested that the following areas be ad dressed in the initial planning in HEW and the Congress: The year of the conference, the level of Federal funding, the general theme and format, the formation of conference advisory bodies, and the general direction of State and community support activities. Senator Church and a number of other congressional leaders have responded favorably to the Council comments on the next WHCOA. On December 17, the Federal Council was invited to participate in a meeting sponsored by the Senate Committee on Aging to bring together the Government and citizen groups to plan for coordinated action for a 1981 White House Conference on Aging. The Council looks forward to serving in an advisory capacity in these efforts. DECOUPLING ISSUE IN THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM The Council believes that the social security system is the most important national program affecting the well-being and economic security of both the present elderly and those who will retire in the future. Confidence in the adequacy of its funding provisions and hence its ability to fulfill its promises is a matter affecting the peace of mind and sense of security of our citizens of all ages. The Council wrote the President on December 23, 1975, about the long- and short-term issues of financing facing the social security system. The Council identified the short-term of deficits resulting from temporary adverse economic conditions: An equally important problem; namely, the decoupling issue, is of long-term nature though it has an immediate influence on the public's attitude toward the system. Because of this, the situation demands immediate attention. Under the present automatic benefit increase provisions of the act, in a situation where both wages and prices had risen steadily, future workers would get, in effect, a double upward adjustment of their retirement. This would occur because the impact of the rising wages and rising prices would be entered twice in the computation of benefits once in the determination of the average wage on which benefit amounts are based and again by adjusting the amount for rising prices. This would result in the long run in paying present workers unjustifiably high (and costly) benefits when they retire a situation which the Congress did not foresee and certainly never intended. This problem has been thoroughly documented by competent analysts including the Social Security Advisory Council in 1974 and the Panel on Social Security Financing to the Senate Committee on Finance in 1975. The Council urged the President to charge the appropriate agencies in the administration with the responsibility for developing, as soon as possible, an amendment to the Social Security Act to correct the short-term problems of the system. A copy of the letter was sent to the Secretary of the Treasury as chairman of the board of trustees of the social security trust funds and to the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and 83-524 O-77-2 Welfare and the Secretary of Labor as trustees and to the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration as secretary to the board of trustees. It was also sent to Congressman James A. Burke, chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security, House Ways and Means Committee for consideration during hearings being held on social security. On February 3, 1976, the President wrote to the Council and agreed with their assessment of the short-term deficit and the future adverse effects of the coupled system. The President reported he planned to send Congress a proposal to increase trust fund revenues and eliminate the double indexing for inflation in the calculation of future benefits thus decoupling the system. On February 16, 1976, Secretary of the Treasury Simon wrote the Council agreeing that the financial problems of the social security system demanded immediate attention. He indicated that the action needed was increased funds going into the system and decoupling of benefit formula to eliminate the inadvertent super-indexing of benefits in the long term. The Council again wrote Secretary Simon on March 23, 1976, and urged that the forecasts of the trustees' report on social security be based on a decoupled system. No action was taken by the 94th Congress on the decoupling issue. FEDERAL SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME On October 19, 1976, a letter was sent to the President from the Council urging the signing into law of H.R. 13500. This legislation required States that supplement Federal supplemental security income to maintain the present level of payment when cost-of-living increases are granted in Federal SSI and in social security benefits. This change will allow low-income elderly to receive needed Federal cost-of-living increases rather than have their payments remain stationary through a reduction in the State payment up to the Federal increase. A recommendation on this change was contained in the FCA "Study of the Interrelationships of Benefit Programs." H.R. 13500 was signed into law by the President on October 21, 1976. PROPOSED NATIONAL MEALS ON WHEELS ACT Out of its ongoing interest in a better systematizing of Federal services and benefits for older Americans, the Council examined several new legislative proposals to ascertain their impact on existing programs and on the most pressing needs of older Americans. One particular bill received a great deal of attention and support in the 94th Congress, the National Meals on Wheels Act-an amendment to title VII of the Older Americans Act-which was developed in the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs under the leadership of its ranking majority and minority members, Senators George McGovern and Charles H. Percy. Congress adjourned without taking final action on this bill but it is expected to be reintroduced early in the next session. The Federal Council considered this proposal at its September 1976 meeting and agreed upon the following position: The Federal Council on the Aging shares the concern of the sponsors of the National Meals on Wheels Act for the homebound elderly and blind and disabled who would benefit from this program. The Council has been developing recommendations for new social policy initiatives and programs to meet the service needs of the homebound elderly in a systematic way. One premise that the Federal Council is advancing is that the "floor of services" or the "gateway" service for the most frail older person is a social/health assessment carried out by a skilled counselor. Through this means a determination can best be made of the several problems and several interventions likely to be required by a frail older person. The counselor would be skilled in determining the resources of family, friends, and other informal arrangements before turning to organized voluntary or government-aided efforts. The counselor would be a continuing presence if that were the wish of the older person. Through this process, it might be determined that a person was not necessarily homebound. A single linkup with a friendly neighbor could mean a weekly delivery of groceries to a crippled person in a third-floor walkup. We would therefore question one premise of the bill that the 3 or 4 million older persons who are said to have one or more chronic conditions are necessarily "bedfast" or "homebound." We would also have to question the conclusion that these same folks automatically need a home-delivered meal. If the Congress would like to have some immediate attention brought to the expansion of home-delivered meals, we would suggest adding moneys to title VII as it now stands. There is no prohibition on home-delivered meals in title VII save for the intent of Congress when the bill was enacted with an emphasis on communal dining as an antidote to the isolation of old age. There is merit to many of the points that have been made in the course of introducing the National Meals on Wheels Act but we feel they should be addressed within the context of the full examination of title VII which will take place in 1978 when that title of the Older Americans Act must be renewed. We will then have before us the results of the experience and evaluation of title VII. We believe the goals of Congress for more legislative efficiency and for a better focus on the elderly with the greatest service need can be better accomplished in this fashion. In conclusion, the Federal Council on the Aging firmly supports the expansion of home-delivered meals within current provisions of titles III, V, and VII of the Older Americans Act. but is opposed to the National Meals on Wheels Act. We believe that the administrative and Federal paperwork requirements for a separate home-delivered meals program would be duplicative and inefficient. Even more importantly, we believe that a mealson-wheels program operated separately from such other nutrition options as congregate meals or grocery shopping assistance or nutrition education or food stamps or prepackaged meals can increase rather than decrease dependency and social isolation. This FCA position statement was forwarded to Senators McGovern and Percy and will form the basis for Council activity on a National Meals on Wheels Act in the next session of Congress. |