On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare, the national health insurance program for American seniors, into law. The bill-signing took place at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo. and former President Harry Truman was enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary, receiving the first Medicare card.
In 1945, Truman was the first president to propose national health insurance, therefore, Johnson wanted to recognize Truman. Congress had opposed Truman’s idea at the time.
The Medicare program, providing hospital and medical insurance for Americans age 65 and older, was signed into law as an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935. When it went into effect in 1966, some 19 million people enrolled. Today, the program is now administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In 1972, President Nixon signed into law the first major change to the Medicare program, which extended eligibility to Americans with certain disabilities and people of all ages with permanent kidney disease requiring dialysis or transplant.
In December 2003, President George W. Bush signed into law the Medicare Modernization Act, which added outpatient prescription drug benefits to the Medicare program. Until this time, approximately 25 percent of Medicare beneficiaries did not have a prescription drug plan.
Medicare is funded entirely by the federal government and paid for in part through payroll taxes. It is currently a source of controversy due to the strain it puts on the federal budget. Throughout history, the program has been plagued by fraud - committed by patients, doctors and hospitals, which has cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Medicaid, a state and federally funded program which offers health coverage to certain low-income people, was also signed into law by President Johnson on July 30, 1965, as an amendment to the Social Security Act.
As of early 2019, more than 60 million Americans were enrolled in the Medicare program.
Gloria Wall’s column appears Fridays in the Journal Review. She can be reached by email at gloriawall02@yahoo.com.
