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More than ten percent of the U.S. is over 65 years of age today. Recently renewed federal attention to the elderly has brought the prospect of increased policy research in this neglected field. Despite their belated rediscovery, the elderly's basic problems and therefore the main policy issues have remained the same: income maintenance and health care. In addressing these issues, it is important to remember that the aged are not a homogeneous population, but rather, as much differentiated as those under 65 years of age. Given a sustained output in policy studies about this special sector, there should be no occasion for their "rediscovery" again in the future.

A prospective epidemiological study on a large population of elderly persons was carried out to investigate the incidence of cerebrovascular attack (stroke) and its relationship to other variables, particularly preexisting cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates the traditional system of social work for hospitalized elderly patients in the U.S. It was mentioned that findings are considered relevant to other adult patients and their families who are referred to Social Service. The traditional social work casefinding practice in delivery of service to hospitalized patients relies mainly on referrals from the medical profession. In addition, the casefinding mechanism may also lead to a reorganization in the utilization of professional services through more knowledge as to when, to whom, and by whom to give service.

Two articles are presented on the new federal provisions for health care for the aged. The first, by Melvin A. Glasser, contends that there are two systems of medical care--one for the rich and one for the poor--and offers some bold suggestions for using the new Title XIX of the Social Security Act to move toward a single system. The second article, by the U. S. Commissioner of Welfare, Ellen Winston, describes the provisions of the new legislation and the significance of some of the amendments for public welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the cost of Medicare for the aged people in the United States. The argument for providing health services to the aged is based on the assertion that these people cannot get the needed services. The recent estimates of hospital utilization by OASDI beneficiaries aged 65 and over are based on a survey made in the winter of 1957 among OASDI beneficiaries. The article indicates that the estimators of Medicare costs believe that hospital care received by the aged may be sufficient now, or that at most, utilization would be increased by 24 per cent under the proposed program. Removal of financial barriers to obtain hospital care would very sharply increase hospital utilization. With the world polarized between totalitarian rule and aspirations for democratic principles, aged should not be deceived as to what they can expect from Medicare, nor the public deluded as to the costs of an effective health program consistent with free enterprise for health services.

The article focuses on college health centers and Swedish designs for the aged. A College Health Center which is the sixth in a series of case studies from Educational Facilities Laboratories is a nonprofit corporation established by the Ford Foundation in 1958 to help American schools and colleges with their physical problems. Homes for the Aged in Sweden Offer Ideas for Americans, published by the President's Council on Aging, describes one way of providing satisfactory care for older people who cannot live alone. Sweden's solution is to combine the freedom and privacy of independent living with the protection of sheltered are in wall home-like units for six or seven residents which eliminate the institutional features of homes for the aged.