Clear Creek County Democrats

Medicare Birthday Party

Fifty two years ago, Congress created Medicare and Medicaid and remade American health care. The number of elderly citizens lacking access to hospitals and doctors plummeted. Hospitals, physicians, and state and local governments came to depend on this federal funding. We have a tendency to forget the history of laws that extended the obligations and commitments of the federal government. But the passage of Medicare and Medicaid, which shattered the barriers that had separated the federal government and the health-care system, was no less contentious than the recent debates about the Affordable Care Act.

But, we did it!  We created effective federal programs to finance health care to seniors and to low-income Americans.  The opportunity exists to build upon these successful programs to provide universal health care for all!