Remarks to the Press Following a Meeting With Congressional Leaders To Discuss Medical Care Legislation

Ladies and gentlemen:

I have been meeting with the leaders of the House and Senate to discuss legislation which the Ways and Means Committee of the House has recommended for comprehensive medical care for America's senior citizens.

Under this plan that the committee is recommending, every American over 65 years of age will guarantee himself comprehensive hospital and medical protection for the rest of his life.

Now, here is how the plan will work. During his working years, the worker pays about $2.50 a month. This, plus a similar amount from his employer, will provide the funds to pay up to 60 days hospitalization for each illness. It also provides adequate nursing home care.

For $3 per month after he is 65, he also receives full coverage of medical, surgical, and other fees whether he is in or out of the hospital.

Those needy citizens of all ages who are unable to make these payments will be provided the same hospital and medical coverage by meeting a liberal needs test.

I am very proud of the work done by the Ways and Means Committee under the leadership of Chairman Wilbur Mills of Arkansas, who is here this morning. This committee has recommended a program that will help all of our people face the future with hope and with courage, and they have done so with a program that respects the basic traditional relationship between a doctor and his patients. And I am so hopeful that we will finally be successful in this Congress in providing comprehensive hospital and medical insurance for our senior citizens.

I want to ask Chairman Mills now to make a brief statement concerning this program that his committee has worked out.

MR. MILLS. Mr. President, I think the Ways and Means Committee has, after several years of study, brought forth a bill that will resolve the problems of those people who are over 65 years of age and in bad health. I think the committee has done this in a way that will not only resolve the problem but will make a contribution to improved possibilities of medical care in all areas and without any socialization of any profession involved.

As you have described the bill, it does provide for a payroll tax of approximately $2.50 a month for each employer and employee. For this, the people of America at age 65 will receive hospitalization of at least 60 days per illness, plus skilled nursing home care. Then after age 65, for a payment of $3 a month they will receive full medical, surgical, hospital, and skilled nursing home care,

For the needy and indigent of all ages, there is provided hospital and medical care under an improved Kerr-Mills Federal-State program.

Finally, the bill provides for a 7 percent across-the-board increase in social security cash payments with a minimum of not less than $4.

Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT. Congressman Boggs is on the Ways and Means Committee. Do you have anything you want to say ?

MR. BOGGS. Mr. President, just one word to say I believe the enactment of this bill will do more to reassure our old people than anything that has happened in my lifetime; not only the older people but the young people who are worried about them.

I might also say that Chairman Mills has done a masterful job in combining the recommendations of the American Medical Association, the administration, and the Republican minority on the committee.

THE PRESIDENT. Congressman Cecil King is a pioneer in this field and co-author of the King-Anderson bill--Congressman King from California. Would you give us your view of the bill, Congressman King?

MR. KING. Mr. President, I just think that it is a proposal that through the past several years I would have never felt would come to accomplishment.

THE PRESIDENT. Speaker McCormack plans to schedule this measure and ask the Rules Committee to hold hearings as early as possible to get it on the floor as early as possible. Mr. Speaker, do you have something to say ?

THE SPEAKER. I'm very fond of this bill. It is a very comprehensive bill, consistent with individual initiative. I am going to confer with Chairman Smith of the Rules Committee today, who has been very cooperative with me, and the bill will be brought up in the very near future.

THE PRESIDENT. Congressman Albert, the majority leader, has been very interested in this field. Congressman, do you have something to say ?

MR. ALBERT. Only, Mr. President, that as soon as the Rules Committee gives a resolution making it an order and as soon as Chairman Mills asks for it to be programmed, it will be programmed on the floor of the House of Representatives.

THE PRESIDENT. Senator Anderson has been a leader in this fight for comprehensive medical care for our senior citizens and hospital care for many years. Senator Anderson, I know you haven't had hearings in the Senate on this particular proposal, but you have been following it closely and we discussed it at some length this morning. Would you care to say to the American people, through the press and television media, your views and hopes in this field ?

SENATOR ANDERSON. Mr. President, those of us who have been working in this field for a long time are delighted with the action of the Ways and Means Committee. I think Chairman Mills and his committee have done an excellent job of trying to put together a comprehensive program. I expect the Senate to vote it favorably when it gets the chance. We are just happy that the House has done what it has done, and we think it is a great moment for the people.

THE PRESIDENT. Senator Smathers is a member of the Finance Committee and the Senate leadership and very interested in helping senior citizens. Do you have any observations, Senator Smathers ?

SENATOR SMATHERS. I'm delighted with the bill. I think it is a very good solution to a long agonizing problem. It is fiscally sound, it will meet the needs, it doesn't socialize anybody. Most of all, it will be overwhelmingly supported, in my judgment, in the Senate.

THE PRESIDENT. Senator Mansfield, majority leader, has been very active in this field and we have had numerous meetings about this legislation this year. Senator Mansfield, would you care to give your outline of procedure on the measure ?

SENATOR MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I think the House has arrived at a very excellent solution to a problem which is affecting more and more of our population. I think it offers a ray of hope to our eider citizens for the first time on a constructive basis. I have been in constant contact--the leadership has--with Senator Anderson and Senator Byrd, the chairman of the Finance Committee, and Senator Byrd has assured me that, as always, he will be most cooperative in holding hearings and seeing that this matter is given expeditious and thorough consideration.

THE PRESIDENT. Senator Byrd, I'm sure you won't be able to get as expeditious action on this bill as you did on the Secretary of the Treasury, and I want to commend you for the fine job your committee in the Senate did. I know that you will take an interest in the orderly scheduling of this matter and giving it thorough hearing. Would you care to make an observation?

SENATOR HARRY F. BYRD. There is no observation I can make now because the bill hasn't come before the Senate. Naturally, I'm not familiar with it. All I can say is, following what Senator Mansfield said, that I will see that adequate and thorough hearings are held on the bill.

THE PRESIDENT. And you have nothing that you know of that would prevent that coming about in reasonable time--there is not anything ahead of it in the committee?

SENATOR BYRD. Nothing in the committee now.

THE PRESIDENT. So when the House acts and it is referred to the Senate Finance Committee, you will arrange for prompt hearings and thorough hearings ?

SENATOR BYRD. Yes.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you very much, gentlemen. We want to appeal to all the American people for their support and their interest in this legislation. We hope that we can get it passed in the House at an early date and that it will be here at the White House in some form for some action in the next few weeks.

The Vice President has been very active in this field and has conferred with the leadership in both Houses, and I would like to ask him to close the meeting now with a brief summary and give his opinion of the legislation.

THE VICE PRESIDENT. Mr. President, I'm sure the country will be very gratified over this wise and prudent action of the House Ways and Means Committee, and of this succinct and concise explanation of this very important piece of legislation. As Chairman Mills indicated earlier, this is not only the judgment of the committee but it represents the thinking and the suggestions of many people throughout American life. I am convinced that this is a very singularly important step in the achievement of a much better America--as you put it, Mr. President, the Great Society. And I have a feeling that we are going to pass this quickly in the Congress, that is, expeditiously, because of its need.

THE PRESIDENT. I just want to say in closing that the American people have placed upon the men at this table the responsibility for providing leadership in government in many fields, and I believe these responsible men will be responsive to the needs of the country.

Thank you very much.