ABSTRACT
At its passage on July 28, 1965, the overriding goal of the Medicare program was to assure access to mainstream healthcare for persons over age 65. Medicare was signed into law on July 30, 1965, by President Johnson in a ceremony in Independence, Missouri, honoring the important role that President Harry Truman had played in the national health insurance debate in the years since World War II. The 1964 elections created a lopsided victory for the Democrats in Congress. In that period, President Johnson pushed Medicare and other Great Society legislation through Congress. With significant help from organized labor, which supported the legislation through its National Council of Senior Citizens, Medicare finally passed. The rules that were established to govern Medicare did little to disrupt or change the way healthcare was practiced or financed in the United States. The major push for access to care extended Medicare coverage is to disabled persons and to persons with end-stage renal disease.
