John,

On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. 55 years later, on July 30, 2020, as an unprecedented pandemic grips the nation, Republicans in Congress are trying to destroy Medicare.

The TRUST Act, championed by Sen. Mitt Romney and included in Sen. Mitch McConnell’s latest COVID response bill, would set up a fast-track commission to enact cuts to Medicare and Social Security behind closed doors. There could be no better birthday present for Medicare than for Republicans to drop their attacks today.

Join us in wishing Medicare a happy birthday, and chip in $5 to our campaign to EXPAND Medicare and keep it strong for another 55 years!

The enactment of Medicare and Medicaid was both the culmination of a decades-long effort to attain guaranteed universal health insurance and intended to be the first step in the quest for Medicare for All.¹

In the 55 years since the legislation was signed into law, both programs have proven their worth. Before Medicare, about half of seniors lacked health insurance.² They were an illness away from bankruptcy. Today, 99.1 percent of Americans 65 and older are insured, thanks to Medicare.³ Nine million people with disabilities who are under age 65 also have health insurance coverage through Medicare.⁴

Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic rages across our country, it’s long past time to improve Medicare and expand its coverage to everyone. Imagine how much worse off we would be right now if Medicare and Medicaid did not exist. And imagine how much better off and better prepared to cope with the pandemic we would be if everyone were covered automatically by an improved Medicare—if people knew that if they felt sick, they could get checked without any copays or deductibles. Imagine if losing employment did not also mean losing health care.

At this moment, Republicans are trying to exploit the chaos of the pandemic and economic cataclysm to destroy Social Security and Medicare. We know a better world is possible, and we’re fighting to defeat these Wall Street plots and EXPAND Social Security and Medicare. Chip in $5 today!

The TRUST Act is a devious ploy to dismantle Medicare as we know it, by creating a closed-door process to fast-track benefit cuts. Using the COVID-19 crisis to sneak it through is the worst possible way to say “happy birthday” to Medicare.

Fortunately, Democratic leaders have been outspoken in their opposition to the bill. So have advocates for seniors, including AARP, which rightfully calls the TRUST Act “a bill that is unrelated to the crisis and that wrongly targets Social Security and Medicare to reduce deficits that have expanded because of needed pandemic relief.”⁵

Congressional leaders must heed these wise words and throw the TRUST Act in the scrap heap where it belongs. Then, they must build on the foundation LBJ signed into law 55 years ago by expanding Medicare and Medicaid instead of cutting them.

During a pandemic that is disproportionately threatening people of color, expanding these programs would be a powerful force for racial justice—just as their creation was. Medicare and Medicaid became law the year after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Hospitals were only allowed to participate in Medicare if they complied with the Civil Rights Act. This led to the desegregation of hospitals throughout the South, improving the quality of care available to people of color.

This was a quiet yet profound achievement. Overnight integration of hospitals, where patients and health care providers interact in the most personal of ways, was a revolution for racial justice. Extending health insurance to low-income Americans, who are disproportionately people of color, was an important step for racial economic justice.

As a first step, Congress should pass the Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act, which Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduced in response to the pandemic. It would guarantee health care (with no out-of-pocket costs) to all Americans for the duration of the pandemic. This is a commonsense public health measure. The last thing we want during a pandemic is for anyone to forgo needed care due to cost concerns.

Congress should then make the guaranteed health care permanent, enacting Medicare for All. As an incremental step, Congress could help struggling families by passing MediKids to provide health care for all children, as the architects of Medicare envisioned as the next step on the road to Medicare for All.⁶ They could lower the Medicare age to 55, which would be essential for older workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic and may never return to the workforce.

In addition to expanding Medicare and Medicaid to cover more people, Congress should improve the programs for current beneficiaries. The COVID-19 crisis in our nation’s nursing homes reveals the need for the government to cover long-term care in home and community settings, rather than funneling people into institutions. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has a plan to do just that.⁷ Medicare coverage should also be expanded to include hearing, vision, and dental care.

Medicare and Medicaid are turning 55 amidst some of the most tumultuous times our country has experienced since the Great Depression. Frances Perkins, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, astutely recognized, “We must devise plans that will not merely alleviate the ills of today, but will prevent, as far as it is humanly possible to do so, their recurrence in the future.”⁸

Policymakers should heed her words, and take the steps necessary to both alleviate this pandemic and prevent the next one. That includes improving Medicare and Medicaid, and expanding them to cover everyone in America.

Together, our voices are going to defeat the TRUST Act, and then we’ll EXPAND Medicare and Social Security! Chip in $5 today to defeat the TRUST Act!

Thank you,

Nancy J. Altman
President, Social Security Works