ABSTRACT
After decades of political reform efforts to achieve national health insurance, Congress enacted Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 as Titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act. Medicare and Medicaid are both health insurance programs, but Medicare is a social insurance program (an entitlement for retired older adults), whereas Medicaid is a means-tested public assistance program (to be eligible, recipients must demonstrate need by meeting established income and asset eligibility criteria).
