In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare program into law. The need for the new Medicare program was based on senior citizens spending 15% of their annual income on medical bills. Today, with Medicare, seniors are spending 22% of their annual income on medical bills. Health care costs have exploded beyond anyone’s imagination. While Medicare has been a wonderful program for America’s senior citizens, it has some important issues that must be addressed. Foremost among these issues is the need for protection against catastrophic medical costs. To determine how Medicare recipients have been exposed to catastrophic costs it is necessary to look at the historical progression of this problem.
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain's health-care plan would make only a small dent in the ranks of the uninsured, at best covering about five million more people, two new reports conclude.
By Jeffrey Young; NY Times Posted: 07/15/08 06:29 PM [ET]
Congress voted Tuesday to override President Bush’s veto of legislation that would undo a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare fees to physicians.
The Senate voted 70-26 to override the veto following action by the House earlier in the day. The lower chamber voted 383-41 to enact the bill over Bush’s objections. In both houses, the votes exceeded the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the president's veto.
