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At 40, Celebrating Medicare

As 2005 comes to an end, it's hard not to think about an important anniversary. It's been forty years since Medicare's enactment in 1965. In commemoration of that great event, PrimeTIME is featuring a condensed version of a paper recently published by the Medicare Rights Center (MRC), a non-profit organization that provides information and assistance to people with Medicare coverage.

The MRC paper, called "Medicare: A National Treasure for Forty Years," (by Elisabeth Henderson, Sukanya Pani, et al) is excerpted below:

The 1965 creation of the Medicare program was one of the most far-reaching and successful initiatives of President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" vision. By providing health care coverage to older Americans through a government- based program, the United States advanced the nation's aspiration to end poverty and promote equality.

A SOCIAL RIGHT. The Social Security Amendments of 1965 incorporated a vision of health care as a matter of social right and articulated a vision of a general social commitment to meeting individual health care needs.

Today, the Medicare program has become a national treasure, reflecting the nation's commitment to the health and independence of older Americans and Americans with disabilities by providing health care coverage to 42 million people.

The original design of the Medicare program — its universality, shared risk, simplicity and dependability — created the foundation for its forty years of success…. Medicare pools risk in order to share the financial burdens of illness across healthy and sick individuals and affluent and low-income families.

GUARANTEED COVERAGE. For forty years, Medicare has guaranteed coverage for a defined set of benefits at a uniform and predictable cost to all seniors and to people with disabilities regardless of their income, health status or where they live.

Prior to Medicare, only half of older adults had health insurance. Private insurers were unable or unwilling to provide comprehensive, affordable health care coverage to the growing aged population, who were either too old or too sick and therefore too high an insurance risk. To support the costs of insuring this high-risk population, private health insurers repeatedly raised premiums and reduced benefits, making private insurance too expensive for many.

Through the guarantee of Medicare coverage, the federal government established protections for all people with Medicare that ensure that everyone — including those battling costly illnesses — have access to covered services.

HIGH SATISFACTION. Evidence from a 2001 survey demonstrates that people with Medicare are generally more satisfied with their health care than persons under age 65 who have private insurance. People with Medicare report fewer problems getting access to care, greater confidence about their access, and fewer instances of financial hardship as a result of medical bills. (See "Medicare vs. Private Insurance: Rhetoric and Reality," by Karen Davis, Cathy Schoen, Michelle Doty et al).

Medicare is a social safety net that has lifted millions of people out of poverty. In fact, since Medicare was created in 1965, poverty among the elderly has been reduced by nearly two-thirds. By financing health care services, Medicare safeguards beneficiaries and their families from the ruinous costs of medical treatments and prevents individuals from spending unmanageable proportions of their incomes on medical care.

COST EFFECTIVE, TOO. Less reported upon, but equally important in assessing Medicare's success, is its cost-effectiveness. Medicare has consistently contained health care costs better than private health plans.

Medicare has been able to accomplish this, in part, by using its resources more efficiently…. Private health insurance administrative costs — 9.5 percent of total costs — significantly exceed Medicare's 2 to 3 percent administrative spending.

CELEBRATE MEDICARE. Original Medicare is simple, popular and reliable. One of the best ways to celebrate Medicare on its 40th anniversary is by making sure that the millions of seniors and Americans with disabilities who rely on it will be able to enjoy its dependability and simplicity in the years to come...

You can find the complete paper, along with other useful information about Medicare, at the Medicare Rights Center.

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