Medicare Signed: Healthcare for Millions Begins
President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law on July 30, 1965, at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, with 81-year-old Harry Truman sitting beside him. Truman had proposed national health insurance twenty years earlier and been defeated by the American Medical Association, which branded it "socialized medicine." Johnson framed the legislation more narrowly: Medicare for Americans over 65, funded by payroll taxes, and Medicaid for low-income families, funded jointly by federal and state governments. Within its first year, 19 million Americans enrolled in Medicare. The programs now cover over 150 million people and constitute the largest single expenditure in the federal budget.
July 30, 1965
61 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on July 30
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