#TBT: President Johnson Introduces Medicare And Medicaid

 

     On July 30th, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965 in the presence of former president Harry S. Truman, stricken by poverty in his twilight years. The most significant piece of healthcare legislation between Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1935 creation of Social Security and Barack Obama's 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, this legislation created Medicare and Medicaid and would prove to be one of the defining moments of Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society."

     The difference, by the way, is actually pretty simple: Medicare is designed to provide health insurance to people 65 and older, while Medicaid is designed to assist people with little means to pay for their own care. The latter also includes assistance for nursing home and personal care services.