Health Affairs June 17, 2015
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the enactment of Medicare. Before President Johnson signed the program into law on July 30, 1965, fewer than half of Americans over the age of 65 had health insurance. In part, that was because so many had pre-existing conditions that precluded them from purchasing it. But even if they could, seniors regularly had to pay three to four times the premium of younger adults.
Since enactment, more than 95 percent of all of us over the age of 65 have health insurance. A remarkable achievement.
And while the original program only covered doctors and hospitals, the program has been expanded over the past half century to include more choice and more benefits. The...
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