Political Quotes

“I want to thank our ranking member on the Finance Committee and all of my colleagues who are here to talk about and celebrate two programs that for 53 years have changed the lives of Michigan families and the families of our country for the better. The words of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the programs into law, are a great reminder of what life was like before Medicare and Medicaid. He said: 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. No longer will young families see their own incomes and their own hopes eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents, and to their uncles, and to their aunts. And no longer will this Nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country. Thanks to these two programs, we have come a long way toward building that just Nation President Johnson envisioned. Before Medicare, only about half of Americans age 65 and older had health insurance. Today, more than 98 percent of Americans age 65 and older have health insurance.…”