Happy Birthday Medicare!

Fast Facts on Medicare

Tomorrow marks the 45th anniversary of the implementation of Medicare (July 1, 1966), following President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the landmark health care program on July 30, 1965. Despite Medicare’s great run, House Republicans voted almost unanimously to end it in order to pay for tax more breaks for Big Oil, hedge fund billionaires, huge corporations, and corporate jet owners. And every single GOP presidential candidate also supports this disastrous plan to end Medicare. Here are some fast facts on the beloved program that the GOP has devoted itself to destroying:

47 MILLION…the number of Americans for whom Medicare provides comprehensive health care

51 PERCENT…the number of Americans 65 or older who did not have health care before Medicare was passed, while today virtually all elderly Americans have health care thanks to Medicare

30 PERCENT…the number of elderly Americans who lived in poverty before Medicare, a number now reduced to 7.5 PERCENT

72 PERCENT…the number of Americans in a recent poll who said that Medicare is “extremely” or “very” important to their retirement security

What Would the GOP Plan to End Medicare Mean?

• The  end to Medicare’s affordable package of guaranteed benefits
• Immediate increase in prescription drug costs for seniors because the notorious “donut hole” would be re-opened
• A massive shift of health care costs to seniors, more than doubling their out-of-pockets costs: