July 30
MEDICARE DAY
Flanked by his wife, Lady Bird Johnson; former President Harry Truman; former First-Lady Bess Truman; and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Social Security Act of 1965 into law on this day in 1965. Truman and his wife were on hand as they were selected by President Johnson to be the first and second persons, respectively, to be enrolled in Medicare and the first recipients of the new Medicare cards. President Johnson (LBJ) said that Truman had “planted the seeds of compassion and duty” that led to the enactment of Medicare.
House Representative Cecil B. King (D-California) and Senator Clinton P. Anderson (D-New Mexico) were the two legislators who introduced the bill to Congress. The first bills of 1965, H.R. 1 and S. 1, were what eventually resulted in the Medicare program some six months later.
The program that provides health insurance to retired workers (65 and older) is funded by employers and employees paying into a national social security fund.
An outpatient prescription drug benefit was added with the Medicare Modernization Act, signed in 2003 by President George W. Bush, which left a donut hole that seniors could fall into if their prescription expenses went over a limit. President Barack Obama’s national health insurance plan started closing up this hole in 2010.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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