Medicare begins tomorrow.
See more posts like this on Tumblr
#history #quote #medicare
On July 1, 1966 (the start of Medicare enrollments) SSA Commissioner Bob Ball holds a press conference to announce SSA’s plans for implementing Medicare.
How can you not like vintage photographs like this? Especially when they represent a monumental moment in history.
July 30, 1965: Medicare is Signed Into Law
On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law. Medicare was created as a health insurance program for elderly Americans. At the day of the signing, former President Harry Truman was enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and was the first to receive a Medicare card. Johnson recognized Truman for his initial work in proposing the national health care insurance program nearly two decades earlier.
Since Medicare and other social safety net programs were created in the mid-1960s, the poverty rate for America’s elderly has dropped precipitously. However, the general U.S. population is aging and living longer, leading to inevitable increases in the program’s overall cost.
To truly understand how we got here, take a look back at the history of the program with Need to Know’s "Medicare: Past, Present and Future.”
Photo: President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Medicare Bill at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. Former President Harry S. Truman is seated at the table with President Johnson. (National Archives)
No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity in their later years.
Forty-seven years ago after we passed Medicaid, I had the privilege of presiding over the passage of Medicare, one of the most important programs our country has to offer its people. While Medicare guarantees healthcare for our senior citizens, Medicaid protects those in the direst of circumstances, particularly those under economic stress. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provides 100 million Americans with health coverage. Ensuring aging, young, and underprivileged Americans have access to quality care without financially burdensome bills was carrying out the legacy that my father started and one of the proudest moments of my career.
In 1965 President Johnson signed the Medicare amendment, which Congress created under the Social Security Act. It provided insurance to over 40 million people aged 65 and over, regardless of their income or medical history. Before Medicare, about 65% of the people age 65 and over,had health insurance which cost them more than three times as much as health insurance for younger people.Over the years Congress has expanded Medicare eligibility to younger people with permanent disabilities, called Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI.
Read more here.
This Letter to the Editor was written by a National Committee volunteer!
Throughout its history Medicare has always been a dynamic program. Unfortunately, today it seems the only time Congress talks about Medicare is to cut benefits, shift costs or find ways to take money from the program to fund other federal priorities.
At the bill-signing ceremony President Johnson enrolled President Truman as the first Medicare beneficiary and presented him with the first Medicare card. This is President Truman’s application for the optional Part B medical care coverage, which President Johnson signed as a witness.
Lillian Grace Avery, the nation’s first Medicare beneficiary, signs her Medicare forms at Edward Hospital in Naperville, Illinois, on July 1, 1966.
via the New Yorker.
It’s simply a lot harder now to believe a political candidate who’s telling you your Medicare benefits were slashed when you remember taking your $250 drug rebate check to the bank, you paid $600 less in drug costs this year, didn’t fall into the donut hole, and received your first free mammogram in Medicare.
On this date in 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the #ADA into law — making it easier for older Americans and others with #disabilities to get around at home, participate in their communities, and go to work. #ADA31
