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Ford Quotes - Older Americans
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The original documents are located in Box H38, folder "Ford Quotes - Older Americans"
of the President Ford Committee Campaign Records at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential
Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the
United States of America her copyrights in all of her husband's unpublished writings in National
Archives collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official
duties are in the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or
organizations are presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed
in the PDF is subject to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential
Library.
3/5/76
Older Americans - 1
OLDER AMERICANS
--Overview--
In a recent special message to Congress, President Ford
reaffirmed his commitment to meeting the needs of older
Americans, and to draw on their strengths in resolving
the problems of America. He asked Congress to:
"
help our nation demonstrate by its deeds a
deep concern for the dignity and worth of our older
persons. By doing so, our nation will continue
to benefit from the contributions that older
persons can make to the strengthening of their
nation.
"
President Ford noted that the single greatest threat
to the quality of life of older Americans is inflation.
His first economic priority has been to fight inflation --
and his programs have cut nearly in half the double digit
inflation experienced in 1974. But, he said,
"
the retired, living on fixed incomes, have been
particularly hard hit, and the progress we have
made
has not benefitted them enough.'
To meet this problem, the President included in his
budget request for fiscal year 1977, a full cost of
living increase in Social Security benefits, that will help
bolster the purchasing power of 32 million older Americans.
Because the President is determined that the Social
Security system must remain fiscally sound, he has also
requested legislation to increase payroll taxes by three-
tenths of one percent for employees and employers so
that payments will not exceed revenues.
In a major new program to alleviate the burden of
catastrophic illness, President Ford has proposed:
* Extending Medicare benefits by providing coverage
for unlimited days of hospital and skilled nursing
facility care for beneficiaries, and
Limiting the out-of-pocket expenses of beneficiaries
for covered services, to $500 per year for hospital
and skilled nursing services, and $250 per year
for physical and other non-institutional medical
services.
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
The President Ford Committee, Howard H. Callaway, Chairman, Robert Mosbacher, National Finance Chairman, Robert C. Moot, Treasurer. A copy of our
Report is filed with the Federal Election Commission and is available for purchase from the Federal Election Commission, Washington, D.C. 20463.
3/5/76
Older Americans - 2
Millions of older persons, he said, live in fear of
being stricken by an illness that will call for ex-
pensive hospital and medical care over a long period
of time.
"Most often they do not have the resources to
pay the bills
We have been talking about this
problem for many years. We have it within our
power to act now so that today's older persons
will not be forced to live under this kind of a
shadow.
These actions are only the most recent of many taken by
the Ford Administration to help older Americans. Over
the last year and a half -- from the first days of his
Administration, President Ford:
Signed a $22.8 billion anti-recession tax-cut
bill that included payment of $50 each to some
34 million individuals receiving Social Security,
Railroad Retirement, and Supplemental Security
Income benefits -- many older persons were also
benefited by extension of unemployment compensation
benefits, tax rebates, and 1975 tax reductions.
Families caring for elderly persons were benefitted
by a liberalization of the tax deduction rules.
Signed into law the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act, providing new protections and
guarantees to 35 million persons covered by
private employee benefit plans, including pro-
vision for greater equity in tax treatment of
private retirement savings, and insuring that
participants do not lose benefits because of
restrictive eligibility provisions or because the
plan did not accumulate sufficient funds to meet
its obligations.
Signed the Housing and Community Development Act
of 1974, which, among other things, provides for
subsidized housing for low-income renters and
authorizes direct, low-interest loans for housing
for the elderly.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
The President Ford Committee, Howard H. Callaway, Chairman, Robert Mosbacher, National Finance Chairman, Robert C. Moot, Treasurer. A copy of our
Report is filed with the Federal Election Commission and is available for purchase from the Federal Election Commission, Washington, D.C. 20463.
3/5/76
Older Americans - 3
Signed into law Title XX of the Social Security
Act which provides 2.5 billion dollars to the states
for social services.
Under Title XX older persons will receive increased
services, planned and implemented by state and local
governments -- needs and services determined not in
Washington but at the local level, with the partici-
pation of the older Americans who will receive the
services. And lastly, under President Ford's
new Title XX proposal, states would no longer be
required to give the federal government money in order
to obtain federal monies in return.
President Ford has supported the concept of the Older
Americans Act since its inception in 1965. This past
November the President strengthened the Act when he signed
into law amendments creating new services and goals.
Under President Ford's Administration -- $272 million --
almost seven times the amount available three years earlier--
went to this program. Through the Administration on Aging,
created by this Act, a national network on aging composed
of state, area and nutrition agencies has been established.
As an example of what the Act does, nutrition agencies
serve older persons over 300,000 hot meals a day, five
days a week at 5,000 locations. This network helps older
people to:
Know what resources are available
Secure services enabling them to live in their own
homes.
Meet their needs for transportation
Provide for the weatherization of their homes.
Obtain legal services
Continue to be involved by serving in full-time,
part-time and volunteer positions serving the
community.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Cope with housing problems
Have a meaningful voice in setting priorities
for meeting their needs at the local level.
The President Ford Committee, Howard H. Callaway, Chairman, Robert Mosbacher, National Finance Chairman, Robert C. Moot, Treasurer. A copy of our
Report is filed with the Federal Election Commission and is available for purchase from the Federal Election Commission, Washington, D.C. 20463.
3/5/76
Older Americans - 4
And, in developing health care for elderly Americans,
the President has directed his Administration to develop
programs that will lead to better use of present and
potential resources for delivery of services to the
elderly with the goal of improving health and quality
of life. Actions in this area include:
*
Research at the National Institute on Aging into
the physical effects of aging and into the
effects of the physical and social environment
on the aging process.
Collection of information on nursing homes
nationally to recommend sound policies to improve
and rate quality of long-term care for the elderly.
*
Development of a national rating system for
nursing homes receiving Medicaid and Medicare funds.
President Ford's commitment both to resolving the problems
of older Americans -- and in using their talents -- is
great. A statement from his February 9, 1976 message to
Congress reflects his beliefs:
"Today's older persons have made invaluable con-
tributions to the strengthening of our nation. They
have provided the nation with a vision and strength
that has resulted in unprecedented advancements in
all of the areas of our life. Our national moral
strength is due in no small part to the significance
of their contributions."
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
The President Ford Committee, Howard H. Callaway, Chairman, Robert Mosbacher, National Finance Chairman, Robert C. Moot, Treasurer. A copy of our
Report is filed with the Federal Election Commission and is available for purchase from the Federal Election Commission, Washington, D.C. 20463.
medicine
Medicine
OLDER AMERICANS
MEDICARE
Those who don't qualify won't be taking money
that you should have. In the field of health care, the
Federal Medicare program in 1976 will provide more than $17
billion for the health care of 24 million older and dis-
abled Americans, about 1 million 400 thousand right here
in the great. State of Florida.
I have proposed major improvements in the
Medicare program to make it serve you better. One of the
most important improvements is the creation of a system of
health insurance that would pay all but a very small
fraction of the catastrophic cost of complex or extended
care and treatment.
Let me put it this way. There is no reason
that older Americans should have to go broke just to
get well or stay well in the United States of America.
Under my proposal the individuals' contribution would go
up slightly, but consider what the increase would
provide.
Nobody eligible for Medicare would have to pay
more than $500 a year for hospital or nursing home care,
and this does not mean that you pay the first $500 of
your total cost. You would pay only 10 percent of the
total cóst, or $500, whichever is less, and the maximum
annual cost to you for covered doctor's services would be
$250, or 20 percent, whichever is less.
Medicare would pay the rest, whether it costs
$1,000 or $10,000 or $50,000. It is a good program, and
we are going to make it.
PRESIDENT FORD
FEBRUARY 14, 1976
WILLIAMS PARK
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
OLDER AMERICANS
MEDICARE
Being in poor health for a long time is bad
enough without having to worry about the ruinous economic
effect of long-term illness. I have suggested a plan to
insure that older Americans will receive medical and
hospital care they need without going broke in the process.
Under this suggestion, Medicare patients in
hospitals or nursing homes would never have to pay more than
$500 a year for medical care or ten percent of their total
hospital bills, whichever is less, for covered doctors
services. The maximum would be $250 or 20 percent of the
total, whichever is less. Medicare would pay the rest,
whether it costs $1,000 or $10,000.
I want ot see America's older citizens live their
lives in dignity and in security and in the very best
possible care. So to the Sisters of Mercy, who have given
more than a century of service to the sick and to the
disabled in America. They have shown countless times that
the quality of mercy blesses both those who receive it and
those who give it.
PRESIDENT FORD
MAY 7, 1976
BERGAN-MERCY HOSPITAL
OMAHA, NEBRASKA
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
MEDICARE
Being in poor health for a long time is bad
enough without having to worry about the ruinous economic
effect of long-term illness. I have suggested a plan to
insure that older Americans will receive medical and
hospital care they need without going broke in the process.
Under this suggestion, Medicare patients in
hospitals or nursing homes would never have to pay more than
$500 a year for medical care or ten percent of their total
hospital bills, whichever is less, for covered doctors
services. The maximum would be $250 or 20 percent of the
total, whichever is less. Medicare would pay the rest,
whether it costs $1,000 or $10,000.
I want for see America's dlder citizens live their
lives in dignity and in security and in the very best
possible care. So to the Sisters of Mercy, who have given
more than a century of service to the sick and to the
disabled in America. They have shown countless times that
the quality of mercy blesses both those who receive it and
those who give it.
PRESIDENT FORD
MAY 7, 1976
BERGAN-MERCY HOSPITAL
OMAHA, NEBRASKA
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
Special messages
OLDER AMERICANS
SPECIAL MESSAGE
QUESTION: Mr. President, I am retired from the
U.S. Air Force, a Pearl Harbor survivor. What I would like
to know, sir, is do you have any program with relation to
pay for the retired service people of the United States?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I recognize the problem that
all people who are retired have with inflationary difficulties
that we have had in the country for the last 18 -- well, the
last three years, really. We are making headway on that,
but with the escalator clauses that we have in military
retirement, Social Security, railroad retirement and so forth,
I think we can honestly say that those who are retired are
considered to get an adequate amount for the benefit of their
future and I intend to see that those escalator clauses are
maintained.
I believe that as we attack effectively inflation
that those who are retired, whether it is military retirement
or Social Security, railroad retirement or Government retirement,
can feel a security and a sufficiency in their older years, and
I will fight to maintain those.
President Ford
March 13, 1976
West Wilkes High School Gym.
Wilkesboro, North Carolina
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
SOCIAL Security
Somial Secrety
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, prior to the 1974
elections you indicated a need for special 5 percent
increase in income taxes. The only response you got from
the Democratic majority was that they used it against you
at the election time.
Just a few weeks ago you announced the necessity
for an increase of Social Security taxes and the cost of
Medicare. Now, no doubt the only response you will get
from the Democrats is that they will use it against you
again in November elections.
Now, while I agree with you that these increases
are a necessity, my question fromthe standpoint of
practical politics, how do you justify the timing of the
tax announcements?
THE PRESIDENT: I think that is an excellent
question, and it is one that ought to be answered. If we
make decisions about the integrity and certainty of the
Social Security Trust Fund on the basis of politics,
a person does not deserve to be elected President.
The truth is that everybody knows that in this
current fiscal year the receipts for taxes for the Social
Security Trust Fund are $3 billion less than the expendi-
tures, and everybody knows that next year there will be
$3.5 billion more going out of the Trust Fund than comes
in in new taxes, and it is going to get progressively
worse under the present set-up.
Eventually, if we don't do something, there
won't be any Trust Fund for the people who are already
retired and the people who are going to retire.
Now, I don't think we ought to play politics
with that kind of situation, and I don't intend to.
Preasident Gerald R. Ford
Fort Meyers Exhibition Hall
Fort Meyers, Florida
February 14, 1976
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Our Federal Social Security system for people who
have worked hard and contributed to it all their lives is.
a vital part of our economic system. Its value is no
longer debatable. In my budget for fiscal year 1977 I am
recommending that the full cost of living increase in
Social Security benefits be paid during the coming year.
But I am concerned about the integrity of our Social
Security Trust Fund that enables people -- those retired
and those still working who will retire -- to count on
this source of retirement income. Younger workers watch
their deductions rise and wonder if they will be adequately
protected in the future.
We must meet this challenge head-on.
Simple arithmetic warns all of us that the Social
Security Trust Fund is headed for trouble. Unless we act
soon to make sure the fund takes in as much as it pays out,
there will be no security for old or young.
I must therefore recommend a 3/10 of one percent
increase in both employer and employee Social Security
taxes effective January 1, 1977. This will cost each
covered employee less than one extra dollar a week and will
ensure the integrity of the trust fund.
President Gerald R. Ford
State of the Union Address
January 19, 1976
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
"In the budget I have recommended for fiscal 1977,
there is no cap on the cost of living increases
on Social Security. Whatever the formula provides,
there will be an increase under the law for all
beneficiaries of Social Security. I recommend it,
and I strongly favor it."
President Gerald R. Ford
The Bahia Mar Hotel
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
February 13, 1976
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
As President, I intend to do everything in my
power to help our Nation demonstrate its deep concern for
the dignity and the well being of our older generations,
For those who need our help we have already a number of
Federal programs providing assistance in a variety of
ways.
Now, let me assure you of one thing very emphatically.
My Administration fully intends to preserve the integrity
and the solvency of the Social Security system for your
benefit and that of all working Americans, men and women,
now as well as in the future.
PRESIDENT FORD
FEBRUARY 14, 1976
WILLIAMS PARK
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: I think that is an excellent
question, and it is one that ought to be answered. If we
make decisions about the integrity and certainty of the
Social Security Trust Fund on the basis of politics,
a person does not deserve to be elected President.
The truth is that everybody knows that in this
current fiscal year the receipts for taxes for the Social
Security Trust Fund are $3 billion less than the expendi-
tures, and everybody knows that next year there will be
$3.5 billion more going out of the Trust Fund than comes
in in new taxes, and it is going to get progressively
worse under the present set-up.
Eventually, if we don't do something, there
won't be any Trust Fund for the people who are already
retired and the people who are going to retire.
Now, I don't think we ought to play politics
with that kind of situation, and I don't intend to.
PRESIDENT FORD
FEBRUARY 14, 1976
FT. MYERS EXHIBITION HALL
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: I think the assumption is that
when a widow marries a second time that her husband is in
a position to either support her with his Social Security
or other resources and on that basis the law from the very
beginning has precluded a widow from getting what she got
from her first husband.
That is the way the law is, and I can see where
you are suggesting it is inequitable. We have got a lot
of things of that kind. One of the grossest examples,
which is in the same area, a woman who works for five years
and then marries and actually if she continues to work,
when they retire she can't draw her Social Security.
Now, that certainly is an inequity in my judgment,
but that is unfortunately the way the law is. We have a
commission or a committee that is studying the whole thing,
including the financing of Social Security, and things of
this sort undoubtedly will come before me and before the
Congress in 1977.
PRESIDENT FORD
APRIL 9, 1976
FAIRMONT HOTEL
DALLAS, TEXAS
/
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Page 1
THE PRESIDENT: I am a firm believer in the
Social Security program. I believe that it has not only
helped immensely those who retire at 62 or 65, but I think
it has also been of great help and benefit when the husband,
for example, dies at 40 and there are survivorship benefits.
of
I think there are other great advantages such
as the disability portion of Social Security. I think we
must be certain and positive that the retirement benefits
and the other benefits that come from the Social Security
program are made certain, and this is where the problem
arises.
President Gerald R. Ford
West Bend High School
April 2, 1976
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Page 2
At the present time in this 12-month period there
will be $3.5 billion more money going out of the Social
Security Trust Fund than comes in. Next year it will be
$4 billion more out than comes in.
At the present time we have roughly $40 billion
in the Social Security Trust Fund. By the early 1980s
there won't be any money in the Social Security Trust
Fund unless we do something to protect its economic
stability.
I took a hard bite at the bullet and came up with
a proposal that I think will protect the integrity of
the financial security of the Social Security Trust Fund.
Unfortunately, the Congress wants to postpone it a little
while longer. The longer they postpone it, the harder it
will get to solve the problem.
But as far as this President is concerned, he
is going to face up to that issue as he has faced up to
every other issue, and I am not going to kid you one bit.
We are going to protect the financial integrity and security
of that trust fund for the benefit of our older citizens,
Presient Gerald R. Ford
West Bend High School
April 2, 1976
FORD is GERALD LIBRARY
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, I would like to ask you
what you foresee is happening to the Social Security program
in both the near and the far future. More specifically in
the far future, do you ever foresee it becoming a voluntary
program?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't see it coming as a voluntary
program. I don't think it is the way to handle our Social
Security program.
On the other hand, I think we have to be cognizant
of the annual deficits that have developed between income on
the one hand and outgo on the other. This calendar year,
maybe it is the fiscal year, the deficit is about $3 billion.
Next year it will be $3.5 billion, the following year close to
$4 billion or more than $4 billion.
The net result is that if we don't do something
about it, the current $43 billion reserve fund will be
depleted because if you take $3 billion one year,
$3.5 billion the next year, $4 billion the next year, eventually
that $43 billion reserve fund is gone.
So there are three or four alternatives. You can
start tapping the general fund, which I oppose. You can
raise the wage ceiling which some propose. I don't think
that is the best answer. I recommended in January that to
make the Social Security Trust Fund secure, that we
add six-tenths of one percent to the employer and to the
employee cost which would at the maximum wage ceiling amount
to less than a dollar a week.
Now the Congress in an election year has rejected
that proposal, but that is only putting off the inevitable.
They have got to find an answer under our current beneficiary
formula. It is inevitable, something has to be done.
I thought we ought to face up to it this year even
though it is an election year, and I regret that the Congress
is not facing up to it. That is the honest and realistic
thing to do.
FCRD
GERALD
President Ford
LIBRARY
March 12, 1976
Northern Illinois Newspaper Assoc.
Chicago, Illinois
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, I would like to ask you
a question on the economy. Aside from calling the Social Security
tax an insurance, what remedy do you see for reducing
the regressiveness of this tax which hurts primarily the low
and middle-income-groups?
THE PRESIDENT: The problem of the solvency of the
Social Security Trust Fund is one we have to face up to. I think
it is wise to take a look at what has been happening this
year and what will happen in the next several years unless some-
thing is done.
This year the deficit between income and outgo in
the Social Security Trust Fund is about $3 billion. Next year
it is estimated that the deficit will be $3.5 billion. It will
go up in about that range each year, and eventually if we don't
do something, the $43 billion we now have in the Trust Fund will
be emptied.
Now what are the remedies? You can go to the
general fund which will, in effect, destroy the concept that
people who get benefits have earned them, or you can do nothing,
which I think would be probably the worst alternative because
it would bring into jeopardy the benefits that people now have
and those who are working to get them.
There are several other alternatives. You can do what
the subcommittee of the House Committee ori Ways and Means did,
and then they were reversed by the full committee on Ways and
Means. They proposed that we increase the wage ceiling, which
is now, I think, $15,100, and they recommended that it go to
$17,000 something. That would be a way, but even though
the subcommittee approved, the full committee just last week
turned it down.
Now, what I have suggested, and I think it faces
up to the issue very squarely, is that we have to start now
to replenish the fund, and I have recommended that we increase the
"tax paid by the employees as well as the employer by six-tenths
of one percent, which would mean that the maximum paid
FORD
in addition by any taxpayer would be less than a dollar a week.
LIBRARY
MORE
Wheaton College
2
OLDER
Social Security cont.
Wheaton College
SECURITY
I think it comes out to $49 a year. That is the
maximum. Now, the argument is often made that that is a
very regressive tax, and it can be argued that, but that is
only half of the argument. Because when the benefits are
paid after the person retires, that regressiveness is reversed.
The beneficiaries in the lower income spectrum get more than
the people who are in the higher income area. So although they
pay more, they in return on retirement get more. So I think it
is the best solution. It is the most open, it is the frankest,
and I think it is the honest way to approach it. Unfortunately,
I see in a political year the Congress apparently does not want
to bite the bullet, but it will have to be faced, and we might
as well face it, and the sooner the better.
President Gerald R. Ford
Wheaton College
Wheaton, Illinois
March 12, 1976
of
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
SOCIAL SECURITY
SOCIAL PROGRAMS
QUESTION: My question relates to Social Security.
In 1975, the maximum amount of Social Security paid on
behalf of any one person was a maximum of $348. Now in 1976
someone earning $15, 300 pays a combined employee-employer
total of $1790, so in just over ten years we had a 414 percent
increase in the cost to middle income American taxpayers.
And there is no end in sight, apparently, because a deficit
occurred this year for the first time so more and more money
is going to have to be raised, so your solution is to increase
regressiveness of that tax by increasing another three-tenths
of one percent and further burdening the low and middle
income taxpayers in this country.
But let me answer the other question, and I am
glad you brought it up. It is a very serious problem we
are facing. The Social Security Trust Fund this year will
have a deficit between income and outgo of $3 billion. Next
year it will have a deficit of: $3.5 to $4 billion, the next
year it will be closer to $5 billion. At the present time
we have a Trust Fund, of about $40 billion, so if we do
nothing, you are bound to have, in a relatively short period
of time, some time early in the 1980's, a deficit. There
won't be any Trust Fund.
So you really have about three different answers.
You can either do as I recommended, which I think is
the honest and straightforward approach, to say that we
have got to increase the taxes three-tenths of one percent
on or one-sixth of one percent on the employer and the
employee.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
President Gerald Ford
Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium
LaCrosse, Wisconsin
March 27, 1976
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
The Social Security program, the largest of its
kind in the world, will pay almost $83 billion to more than
apr
32 million Americans in this next fiscal year. This is
more -- and I emphasize more -- than a $10 billion increase
AMER.
over the current year. And, of course, I suspect many of
you know -- but I want to reemphasize it to show my commit-
ment -- in my budget for the next fiscal year, which begins
October 1, 1976, I am recommending that the full cost of
living increase in Social Security benefits be paid in
that year.
For more than 40 years, through the vehicle of
Social Security and other programs, the Federal Government
has made a firm commitment of support for older citizens
of our society. I pledge to you that I will continue without
hesitation, reservation, to uphold that commitment.
OHIO'S GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE ON AGING
THE STATE FAIRGROUNDS
MAY 26, 1976
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
SOCIAL SECURITY AND HEALTH CARE
Excerpts of President Ford's Remarks
At Williams Park
St. Petersburg, Florida
February 14, 1976
For more than 40 years, through the vehicle of Social Security and other
programs, America has made a firm commitment of support for older Citizens
of our society.
I pledge to you this morning that I will continue to uphold that commitment.
The Social Security program, the largest of its kind in this world, will
pay almost $83 billion to more than 32 million Americans in fiscal year
1977. That is more than a $10 billion increase over the current year.
Here in Florida the Social Security Trust Fund will pay an estimated
$4,400,000 to participants in the next fiscal year. In my budget for
fiscal year 1977, I am recommending that the full cost-of-living increase
in Social Security benefits be paid during the coming year.
Now, let me assure you of one thing very emphatically. My administration
fully intends to preserve the integrity and the solvency of the Social
Security system for your benefit and that of all working Americans, men
and women, now as well as in the future.
As long as I am President, we are going to keep Social Security protection
and every other retirement program strong, sound and certain.
In the field of health care, the Federal Medicare program in 1976 will
provide more than $17 billion for the health care of 24 million older
and disabled Americans.
I have proposed major improvements in the Medicare program to make it
serve you better. One of the most important improvements is the creation
of a system of health insurance that would pay all but a very small
fraction of the catastrophic cost of complex or extended care and treatment.
I don't have to tell you that medical treatment is very, very expensive
today. Hospital costs have risen by more than 200 per cent since 1965,
to an average cost of $128 per day.
Nobody eligible for Medicare would have to pay more than $500 a year for
hospital or nursing home care, and this does not mean that you pay the
first $500 of your cost. You would pay only 10 per cent of the total cost,
or $500, whichever is less, and the maximum annual cost to you for covered
doctor's services would be $250, or 20 per cent, whichever is less.
Medicare would pay the rest, whether it costs $1,000 or $10,000 or $50,000.
It is a good program, and we are going to make it.
##
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
QUESTION: Mr. President, prior to the 1974
elections you indicated a need for special 5 percent
increase in income taxes. The only response you got from
the Democratic majority was that they used it against you
at the election time.
3HT
Just a few weeks ago you announced the necessity
for an increase of Social Security taxes and the cost of
Medicare. Now, no doubt the only response you will get
from the Democrats is that they will use it against you
again in November elections.
Now, while I agree with you that these increases
are a necessity, my question fromthe standpoint of
practical politics, how do you justify the timing of the
tax announcements?
to THE PRESIDENT: I think that is an excellent
question, and it is one that ought to be answered. If we
make decisions about the integrity and certainty of the
Social Security Trust Fund on the basis of politics,
a person does not deserve to be elected President.
The truth is that everybody knows that in this
current fiscal year the receipts for taxes for the Social
Security Trust Fund are $3 billion less than the expendi-
tures, and everybody knows that next year there will be
$3.5 billion more going out of the Trust Fund than comes
in in new taxes, and it is going to get progressively
worse under the present set-up.
10
Eventually, if we don't do something, there
won't be any Trust Fund for the people who are already
retired and the people who are going to retire.
Now, I don't think we ought to play politics
with that kind of situation, and I don't intend to.
welcome you to Ft. Myers. I would like to know if you have any
ideas for programs in which to create jobs to alleviate the
unemployment situation.
THE PRESIDENT: I have, I think, the best program
for permanent jobs, for jobs that offer a future. I have a
program that is not a quick fix--that is a phony answer.
I happen to believe because five out of the six jobs in this
country are in the private sector, that is where we ought
to try and find more jobs for more people.
Now, how do we do that? Number one, we have
recommended and we are still pushing for additional tax
incentives. Let me cite one. We believe that with a tax
incentive, business will build a plant more quickly, so in
an area of high unemployment, my recommendation is to give
a tax incentive to a company to build a plant to buy equipment.
If they will do it within a relatively short period of
Public Works/unenyl
time, it gives them a more rapid amortization. It is an
incentive for them to create jobs right now.
That is the whole philosophy that I think is the
right one to get our economy moving. Now there are some
other things that we are doing in this temporary hiatus.
For example, I have recommended more expenditures for local
water and sewerage treatment plants than this year and 90
percent more than last year. This is constructive, beneficial
local public works. We have more money put in the budget
for the next fiscal year for highway construction than at any
time in the history of the United States.
We have more money in the budget for ongoing fully
justified public works program, not quick fix proposals
that really don't do much. So between incentives for the
private sector and responsible public works programs at the
local and State level, I think we are going to accelerate
the increase in job opportunities and reduce the unemployment
rate.
SOCIAL SECURITY
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 14, 1976
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
Suppl, Retirement Prog.
Supplemental Retionent
Programs
FORD LIBRARY
&
GERALD
SUPPLEMENTAL RETIREMENT PROGRAMS
Upon being asked his opinion on legislation permitting
all citizens to provide for a portion of their retirement
through the mechanism of the individual retirement accounts,
the President responded:
"I was a supporter of what we call the Keogh
plan, and I am sure you are familiar with that.
That has been increased from $1500 to $2500, as
I recollect. There is the IRA program. I have
recommended something along this line so that
individuals can invest in American corporations and
get a tax deferral.
In other words, I think it is $1500 a year. If
they invest in American corporate securities, they
can then get a deferral of their tax and pay the
tax when they retire at the retirement age. I
happen to believe very strongly in supplemental
retirement programs, whether it is Keogh or any
one of the others. So, anything that can be jus-
tified within reason, the answer is categorically
yes. "
President Gerald R. Ford
Q & A Session at Public Forum
Champaign, Illinois
March 6, 1976
GERALD LIBRARY R. FORD
TAX Reform
Tax Reform
TAX REFORM
Q. One of the proposals now before the House Ways and
Means Committee, submitted by Rep. James A. Burke of
Massachusetts, would change the social security tax
law to lessen the payments now made by employers and
employees and would raise the income limits so that
wage earners with an income of $25,000 would pay a
social security tax on that full amount. Do you
support that tax reform?
A. As I spelled out in my State of the Union address,
it is vital that we maintain a sound, reliable Social
Security System. I have therefore proposed that the
full cost of living increase be paid to all Social
Security beneficiaries,
We must also recognize, as Rep. Burke has, that the
Social Security Trust Fund -- the foundation of the
system -- is running out of money. I have therefore
proposed that in order to preserve the integrity of
the trust fund and to protect future benefits, we
enact a modest increase in Social Security payments,
effective January 1, 1977. For employees, this will
mean an increase of less than a dollar a week in
additional payments.
Rep. Burke's proposal would result in a significant
portion of Social Security benefits being financed from
general revenues. I oppose this approach for two
reasons. First, Social Security was set up as a form
FORD & 93RALD LIBRARY
2
of personal insurance; we ought to maintain it as
such, and not turn it into a general welfare program.
Secondly, we just don't have general revenues to put
into Social Security. As matters now stand, the
Federal Government during fiscal year 1976 will be
borrowing over $70 billion to pay its bills. It
makes no sense to me to keep living beyond our
means and expect the future to take care of itself.
Social Security was intended as a means to provide
for the future, and we ought to stick to that sound
principle.
Boston Herald American
Written Interview
February 4, 1976
MISC.
OLDER AMERICANS
FIXED INCOMES
But, the elderly of our nation are also vitally
affected by the problems and concerns that face all of the
215 million Americans. Perhaps the greatest of these are
the problems of inflation. During 1974, August 9 to be
precise, when I became President, inflation was ranging
at an annual rate of 12 percent or higher, eating away at
everybody's buying power, but absolutely devouring the
livelihood of people on fixed incomes.
Americans living on fixed incomes could see
their purchasing power eroding with each visit to the
supermarket. I knew that something had to be done
to bring the situation under control as quickly and as
effectively as possible. I knew that deficit spending
by the Federal Government was a major contributor to
inflation, that slowing the growth of Federal spending
essential to solve the problem. In short, I believe our
Government should spend less and our Government should tax
less.
OHIO'S GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE ON AGING
THE STATE FAIRGROUNDS
MAY 26, 1976
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY