The History Behind America's Most Popular Initiatives

Medicare and Social Security have always been critical to older Americans and always will be. Would you like to work with us on standing up for and preserving these important federal issues? Click here to find out how.

56 years ago on July 30th, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson made Medicare law by signing H.R. 6675 in Independence, Missouri. Within its first year, an astonishing 19 million Americans signed up for healthcare coverage under Medicare. 

President Johnson was not the first to have the idea for Medicare though. The idea, first discussed by President Teddy Roosevelt, was pushed to the front of the national stage by President Harry S Truman. President Truman asked Congress to create a nationwide health insurance fund to cover the typical health care expenses of Americans of all ages. Despite President Truman’s best efforts, such a plan was not given credence for another twenty years. 

Then, in the 1960s, when a study announcing that 56% of Americans over the age of 65 were living without health insurance was published, Medicare finally got its moment. In recognition of his dedication to such a legislative feat, President Truman and his wife, Bess, were made Medicare’s very first beneficiaries. 

Today, 15% of the national budget is dedicated to Medicare programs and over 60 million Americans receive Medicare benefits which have been expanded to include more diverse groups of people such as those under age 65 with long term disabilities. 

Thirty years before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act on August 14th, 1935. 

It’s from the Act’s Title II: Old Age Benefits that we can trace back the modern day iteration of Social Security. For the first time ever, through payroll tax contributions, workers had the chance to contribute to the security of their future retirement benefits. 

At its signing, President Roosevelt captured the essence and purpose that has stood true of the Social Security Act by saying, "We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.”

Today, Social Security is more popular than ever. In a July 2020 poll, AARP found over 90% of respondents, regardless of political affiliation, viewed Social Security as one of, if not the most, important government program. Medicare has a similar popularity, with over 80% of Maine’s 50+ voters saying that a candidate’s commitment to standing up for the program is a deciding factor when casting their vote. 

Medicare and Social Security have always been critical to the country and always will be. Would you like to work with us on standing up for and persevering these important federal issues? Click here to find out how!