Political Quotes

“Madam President, often very good ideas, no matter how important, take time to ripen. Even when they are ripe they need dedicated advocates to make them a reality. Let me give one example. President Harry Truman once said: Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. And the time has now arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and help them get that protection. But in 1945 when he spoke those words to Congress, the time had not yet truly arrived. In fact, it would be another 20 years before Truman's good idea was realized. It would be 20 years before Truman became the first of 19 million Americans to receive a Medicare card. President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, MO. The law took effect almost a year later, 45 years ago this week, on July 1, 1966. At the time Medicare took effect, only half of Americans 65 and older had access to health care coverage. A third of American seniors lived in poverty. ``Poverty was so common that we did not know it had a name,'' President Johnson said, describing a time before Medicare. Today, virtually every American over 65 has access to health care and the number of seniors who live below the poverty line has dropped by 75 percent. That is no accident.…”