On the HorizonLessons from 1964—The Success of Medicare
By Robert Hayes, MRC News, Fall 2002
Forty summers ago, President John Kennedy barnstormed the nation attacking Congressional Republicans for what he called their wholly negative opposition to his domestic social agenda.
An alliance of northern Republicans and southern Democrats had bottled up the Kennedy Administration's proposals on public works, mass transit, urban affairs and Medicare. Into the fall of 1962 the President criss-crossed the nation with a single message: elect more Democrats to clear the way for better health care for older Americans, better housing for America's cities and equal justice for Americans of all races.
President Kennedy's politicking ended abruptly that October as the Soviet Union's build-up of missiles in Cuba led the Kennedy Administration and the Soviets to the brink of nuclear war. The Congress that convened in 1963 remained bitterly divided and essentially gridlocked on most major domestic fronts.
By November 1964 the American political dynamic had changed dramatically. President Kennedy was dead, Lyndon Johnson had constructed a north-south electoral juggernaut and the Republican Party was captured by Barry Goldwater leading what was then seen as the Party's extreme right wing. President Johnson swept 44 of the 50 states and had long coattails in Congressional races.
When Congress convened in January 1965, Democrats controlled the House with a 295 to 140 majority and Senate Democrats outnumbered Republicans 68 to 32. That Congress swiftly enacted massive federal aid to education, a voting rights act and a national health insurance program - Medicare.
On July 30, 1965, President Johnson signed Medicare into law. Almost immediately, the political world turned again. In August, race riots broke out in the Watts section of Los Angeles. That fall defense spending for the War in Viet Nam skyrocketed, inflation spiraled upward and never again could President Johnson jawbone his major domestic initiatives through a cooperative Congress.
Then, in a blink of an eye, the Johnson Administration was swept away and, by the end of the Nixon Administration, America had begun its continuing march to a reduced federal role in addressing human need.
Something has been lost in American politics since 1965 to be sure. But much remains.
After all these years, Medicare remains one of the great success stories of U.S. domestic law-making. Medicare has made the difference between life and death for millions of older and disabled Americans, and it has strengthened the quality of life and personal security of millions more.
In recent years many Democrats and Republicans alike have built political careers by ridiculing federal efforts to alleviate human suffering. Yet, despite the well-financed chorus of attacks on a national health care system, Medicare remains immensely popular among voters, among "real people," regardless of party affiliation or ideology. Blemishes and all, Medicare is a national treasure.
Today there is an undeniable national consensus to include within Medicare meaningful coverage of the medicines doctors prescribe to their patients. Politicians of all stripes know this. Still, we are left this year with the sorry spectacle of Congress, aided and abetted by the disinformation circulated by the Bush Administration and the pharmaceutical industry, failing once again to enact the necessary legislation.
We head into this year's mid-term Congressional elections with no drug coverage for people with Medicare. As a result, Americans will die prematurely and needlessly.
So we reflect with sadness on the failures of American politics in 2002 and we look ahead, searching for lessons from 1964.
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