Alan Grayson: “50 years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson signed the law that created Medicare and Medicaid--the most important…”

“50 years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson signed the law that created Medicare and Medicaid--the most important healthcare programs in our country's history prior to the Affordable Care Act. With one stroke of his pen, President Johnson guaranteed both poor Americans and older Americans the right to high- quality, affordable medical treatment. Thanks to Medicare, for 50 years now, our seniors have received the health care they have needed to stay healthy and to live full lives; but despite the success, there are gaps in Medicare coverage that need to be closed. The most glaring gap is the fact that Medicare does not provide basic medical coverage for seniors' eyes, ears, and teeth. It is as though Medicare assumes that seniors don't need to see or to hear or to chew. We are not talking about exotic, high-tech treatments. We are talking about no Medicare coverage for eyeglasses, eye exams, hearing aids, cavity fillings, and dentures. We are talking about no treatment for medical conditions that lead to blindness, deafness, lost teeth, and serious gum disease, which has been strongly linked to heart disease. It is unthinkable that we deny our seniors this elementary level of care. There are 2.7 million seniors in America who are blind. How many of them would be able to see today if they had received simple annual eye exams as part of their Medicare coverage? Medicare is a promise that we make to ourselves--the young to the old, one generation to the next.…”