General Assembly approved at the session which ended last week, $2
million in funds is provided to increase the State's contribution for
the medically indigent from $135 a month to $210 a month. The
significance of this is that it will provide better nursing-home care for
patients and will free hospital beds for patients with the more serious
illnesses.

Most of us think that the private hospital will continue to be the
keystone in this partnership of heath care. But your State government
is aware that it must give support and assistance to the private hospital
system. We are aware, for example, that the State must bear a large
share of the responsibility of financing the medical care of the indigent
and the medically indigent. Jointly with the federal government, your
State has administered the Hill-Burton construction program, under
which new hospitals, or additions to existing ones, have been con-
structed in Baltimore City and the counties. It has been our policy to
preserve our partnership for hospital and medical care, on the thesis
that it offers the best middle-of-the road solution to the problem of
financing and operating our hospital system.

The construction of this building is tangible evidence that the com-
munity leadership of Baltimore has recognized and accepted its re-
sponsibility in the partnership arrangement. The handsome building
which we are dedicating symbolizes the progressive spirit of the people
of this city and their devotion to the advancement of the art of healing
the sick. Let me commend and congratulate all who had a hand in
its creation—your board of trustees, your medical staff, the hospital
staff and all others.

Finally, let me express my thanks to you for inviting me to take part
in this ceremony. It is indeed a momentous occasion, marking as it
does, the passage of another significant milestone in the medical prog-
ress of this city and this State. I thank you.

REMARKS, "EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR" AWARD
BALTIMORE

June 16, 1965

I am honored to be present here this morning at this breakfast at
which the Maryland Association for Retarded Children makes its
"Employer of the Year" awards.

The treatment, the care and the rehabilitation of the victims of

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