1822                             Joint Resolutions

"There is a general lack of concern about the elderly people of the
United States, the problems they face and the problems they create.
America today is a culture fascinated with youth and vitality, and
not an easy place in which to grow old. But the number of old persons
in the United States is increasing steadily. At the turn of the century,
4% of our population was 65 years of age and older; today, that
figure is nearly 10%. It is estimated that we will have 25 million
people over 65 years of age by 1980. Millions of these elderly persons
continue to lead normal lives in familiar surroundings, pursuing
interests and jobs they enjoy. But some are sick, feeble, poor, de-
pressed and alone and far too many of them end up forgotten in
nursing homes. These old people are a major challenge for medicine
and for society, a challenge whose answer will help define America
in the 1970's." (pp. 20-21)

And Whereas, the Board of Inquiry considered the causes of the
rapid development of the nursing home industry and reported as
follows:

"Nursing homes in America and Maryland are big business. Most
nursing homes are proprietary, which means they are private, profit-
making organizations, whose primary reason for existence is to make
money for their owners or stockholders. Nursing homes, at the same
time, are financed for the most part by city, state and federal govern-
ment funds. In 1969, Medicaid programs paid to nursing homes in
this country some $1.3 billion. Medicare, in 1969, paid to nursing
homes another $320 million. Add to these figures the many millions of
dollars paid to nursing homes by the approximately 25 percent of
nursing home patients who do not qualify for government aid, or
by their families. Nursing homes, in fact, are an industry. Last year
there were 23,013 nursing homes in the U.S., with a total of 1,014,510
beds. These homes employ more than 500,000 persons.

"Councilman Robert Douglas of Baltimore told this panel, in his
testimony, of the high prices nursing homes' common stocks have
until recently brought upon the national stock exchanges. The rea-
sons, he said, are simple: Medicare and Medicaid. There is a 'guaran-
teed paycheck for each patient,' Mr. Douglas said. If you can care
for that patient that cheaply, he testified, 'you will make a profit out
of it.'

"Nursing homes have developed into an industry from so-called
'Mom and Pop' homes * * *. Ten years ago construction of nursing
homes accelerated, and in Maryland alone in the past six years, 5,000
nursing home beds have been built. But today, however, the chain
organization so common in banks, hamburger drive-ins and drug-
stores, is a growing phenomenon in nursing homes, and in Maryland
three corporations own 22 homes.

"It is a normal pattern in American business for a corporation to
grow bigger and bigger. * * * In business terms such growth is
rational and, perhaps, even desirable. The question we in this society
must ask, however, is: Will our elderly people benefit?" (pp. 21-23)

And Whereas, the Board of Inquiry concluded its report with
General Recommendations Regarding Nursing Homes in Maryland,
which are quoted below:

"1. The potential problem of profiteering in the nursing home in-
dustry. It seems to this panel that there is a fundamental contradic-