Medicare
The Social Security Act of 1965 was signed into law on July 30, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson as amendments to existing Social Security legislation. This legislation established the Medicare program.
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other special criteria. The "Original Medicare" plan, i.e. Medicare without Medicare Advantage added on, coverage extends to 80% of any given medical cost; the remaining 20% of cost must be paid either a Medicare Advantage plan, which is a "supplemental insurance" from a private health insurance company, or with out-of-pocket via the patient's own personal funds.
Cry Wolf Quotes
We are going on the assumption that this is not socialized medicine. Let me tell you here and now it is socialized medicine.
[There is] no demonstrable need for the program.
[Write to your congressional representative against the health care reform proposal or] we will awake to find that we have socialism.
The doctor begins to lose freedoms; it’s like telling a lie, and one leads to another. First you decide that the doctor can have so many patients. They are equally divided among the various doctors by the government. But then the doctors aren’t equally divided geographically, so a doctor decides he wants to practice in one town and the government has to say to him you can’t live in that town, they already have enough doctors. You have to go someplace else. And from here it is only a short step to dictating where he will go.