Political Quotes

“this Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in Independence, MO. There are currently 87 million people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, or both, yet we often talk about these two programs with inhuman terms and confusing acronyms. It is easy to forget that Medicare and Medicaid have human faces too. Pauline Goldmann in Las Vegas is one of those faces. Two months ago, Pauline suffered a collapse related to diabetes. She is back at home now, thanks to Medicare's coverage of services she needed in a rehabilitation hospital. Without coverage for those services, she would have had to go to a nursing home. Eventually, she would have become eligible for Medicaid, and the Government would have picked up the tab for that costly institutionalization. More importantly, Pauline would have lost her independence and the ability to live in her home and community. She is just one of the 42 million people currently served by Medicare. Before Medicare, about one-half of seniors could afford private health insurance. Now it is a program that they know and trust. Without it, many seniors and people with disabilities would have no health coverage at all. That this is practically inconceivable now is a testament to Medicare's success.…”