Time May 30, 2019
When Medicare was created in 1965, few Americans were talking about universal health care. Even fewer realized that the bureaucrats behind the program hoped that it would eventually become that.
With America at the height of Cold War anti-communist sentiment, the Social Security Administration staffers who set up Medicare did not articulate their goal, instead hoping that lawmakers would incrementally expand Medicare to include everyone — not just the elderly.
“The original idea behind Medicare was Medicare for all,” says Jonathan Oberlander, professor and chair of social medicine at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Now, more than a half-century later, “Medicare for All” has become a slogan for a number of different proposals by Democratic presidential candidates, members of...
Today's Sponsors
Today's Sponsor