Friends,

54 years ago today, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law. Faced with the reality that 56% of seniors lacked health care, he proposed an ambitious and historic plan to cover every single senior in America. And he won.

Medicare is an important, life-saving program for countless families. But 54 years later, this crisis is still not resolved: 29 million Americans remain uninsured with millions more underinsured. These problems won’t go away until we pass Medicare for All and ensure that health care is treated as a right, not a privilege.

Join us in celebrating Medicare’s birthday by calling Rep. Frank Pallone to demand that the Energy and Commerce Committee hold a hearing on Medicare for All.

Don’t get me wrong: the passage of Medicare in 1965 is one of the single greatest political achievements in our country’s history. Within a year, it provided health care to 19 million people aged 65 and up. It was life-changing.

It was also largely responsible for the integration of U.S. hospitals by making it a prerequisite for them to receive reimbursement funding. As a result, we made huge progress toward closing the racial disparity gap in health care. But to this day, Black and Brown communities still suffer from this. And without Medicare for All, we may never see that gap close completely.

We’ve made so much progress in our fight for Medicare for All this year: with three historic Congressional hearings and an additional 118 cosponsors to Rep. Jayapal’s bill in the House. But we can and must do more.

The best way to commemorate Medicare’s birthday is by fighting for it’s expansion. Call Rep. Frank Pallone at 202-225-4671 today and demand a fair, open hearing on Medicare for All.

And take a moment to share our Tweet to make sure Frank Pallone sees our call to action.

Thank you for being a part of this movement. We’re on the right side of history — just like LBJ was on the right side of the Medicare fight. And if we keep working together, we’ll win.

In solidarity,

Jasmine Ruddy
Organizing Team
Nurses' Campaign to Win Medicare for All