[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12527-12528]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               48TH ANNIVERSARY OF MEDICARE AND MEDICAID

  (Mr. GALLEGO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, today marks the 48th anniversary of the 
Medicare program, which has had a tremendous impact on the American 
public and on the quality of life of our seniors and our kids.
  On July 30 of 1965, a fellow Texan, President Lyndon B. Johnson, 
signed Medicare into law--a program that at the time was considered 
incredibly controversial. At that time, about half of our Nation's 
seniors didn't have health coverage. Today, in Texas, more than 3 
million seniors, including our parents and our grandparents, rely on 
this program for crucial medical care.
  The law has allowed our seniors to live with the peace of mind that 
health coverage will be available to them in their golden years. It is 
now just as vital to the long-term health and security of Americans as 
it was in 1965. We need to continue to demonstrate our commitment to 
those who have built this country by strengthening Medicare for future 
generations. I am very

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glad that we have done things like starting to close the Medicare 
doughnut hole so that seniors are starting to save money on their 
prescriptions. In the first 6 months of 2013, more than a million 
seniors with Medicare have received at least one free preventative 
service--and our seniors have earned this through a lifetime of work.

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