Medicare Turns Fifty-Four Today. We Need to Defend and Expand It

On July 30, 1965, Medicare was signed into law. In eleven months, 19 million Americans were automatically enrolled, half of whom were previously uninsured. And within that same transition period — as a direct result of the policy — every segregated hospital in the South took down their “Whites only” signs, integrating their services for the first time.

Medicare came in three parts: a universal hospital plan for the elderly (part A), voluntary doctor insurance for the elderly (part B), and a means-tested health care plan for the poor (Medicaid)....