--- title: Medicare Turns 50: How the Social Security Program Came to Be description: President Johnson signed it into law 50 years ago, on July 30, 1965 canonical: https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-30T11:00:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:04.219Z article:section: History og:title: Medicare Turns 50: How the Social Security Program Came to Be og:description: President Johnson signed it into law 50 years ago, on July 30, 1965 og:url: https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f48ffc1394c002/69885bb5a988cadf1c6b38a8/1101650806_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: Aug. 6, 1965 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Medicare Turns 50: How the Social Security Program Came to Be twitter:description: President Johnson signed it into law 50 years ago, on July 30, 1965 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f48ffc1394c002/69885bb5a988cadf1c6b38a8/1101650806_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Medicare Came Into Existence > Sponsored content. 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Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is included in a TIME print and digital subscription? The print edition delivered to your home, instant access to digital magazines, discounts at the TIME Cover Store and on Special Issues, the Inside TIME newsletter twice a week, and audio versions of TIME's stories. It is from $29 for one year or $49 for two years at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is the difference between TIME's digital and print plans? Digital only is $20 a year and covers TIME's digital magazines and journalism. Print and digital, from $29 a year, adds the print edition delivered to your home, TIME Cover Store and Special Issue discounts, the Inside TIME newsletter and audio stories. #### Is TIME a reliable news source? TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923. Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: A History Of The Minimum Wage [Watch (HLS stream): A History Of The Minimum Wage](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8) (3:56)  _Published 2014-02-28. See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 30, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  The Aug. 6, 1965, cover of TIME The Aug. 6, 1965, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 30, 2015 11:00 AM UTC It was 50 years ago Thursday, on July 30, 1965, that President Lyndon Johnson [signed](http://www.ssa.gov/history/lbjsm.html) the Medicare bill, turning the national social security healthcare program for older Americans into law. But, despite Johnson’s legendary powers of legislative persuasion, the celebratory signing event—complete with the enrollment of the first Medicare beneficiary, former President Harry S. Truman—could have looked very different. After all, the idea of helping American seniors afford health care took time to gain traction: The idea came up not long after Franklin Roosevelt initiated the modern social-security system in the 1930s. When the coinage “Medicare” [first](http://time.com/vault/issue/1960-05-16/page/21/) came on the American scene, the program it described was not the one we think of today. In 1960, the term referred to an _opposing_ program proposed by the Eisenhower administration. The big fear at the time was that tying any kind of health aid to social security would quickly deplete the funds available for that then-30-year-old system; Eisenhower’s version, overseen by then-Vice President Richard Nixon, would have been both voluntary and state-funded. In that year’s Presidential campaign, however, Nixon lost to challenger John F. Kennedy—who, as TIME [put it](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-09-11/page/44/) a few years later, “vowed without qualification that his Administration would persuade a Democratic Congress to pass a medicare bill, to be financed under the social security system.” Kennedy died, however, before he could make good on that promise—which is where Johnson comes in. Benefiting from his 1964 election victory, Johnson made it happen. But what exactly it would look like remained to be settled. By April of 1965, as TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-04-02/page/27/), there were three options in the running: Johnson’s social-security-linked compulsory program; an Eisenhower-esque voluntary program with no link to social security; or an American Medical Association-backed plan called “[eldercare](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-02-19/page/26/),” which prioritized patient choice and was need-based. The solution came, surprisingly, in the form of House Ways and Mean Committee chair Wilbur Mills, who had been a staunch opponent of Medicare. He combined elements of the three plans into one that would succeed. The basics of the plan were compulsory and funded by increasing social-security taxes, while extras were voluntary. The program we now know as Medicaid, for those in need, would also be expanded. “The medicare bill will not solve all the problems of growing old—but it will certainly make the process much less costly to the elderly,” TIME [noted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-04-16/page/32/). And that wasn’t all it did, the magazine [continued](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-04-16/page/31/). The medicare bill represented a fundamental change to American political norms: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_**[ The New Welfare State](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-04-16/page/31/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/"},"headline":"How Medicare Came Into Existence","datePublished":"2015-07-30T11:00:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:04.219Z","description":"TIME said the bill—signed on July 30, 1965—created a \"welfare state beyond Roosevelt's wildest dreams\"","url":"https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/","keywords":["politics","Medicare","health","Social Security"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f48ffc1394c002/69885bb5a988cadf1c6b38a8/1101650806_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f48ffc1394c002/69885bb5a988cadf1c6b38a8/1101650806_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Aug. 6, 1965","caption":"Aug. 6, 1965","creditText":"Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/","name":"How Medicare Came Into Existence"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A History Of The Minimum Wage","description":"See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KFNoRaXc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-28T17:21:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/","duration":"PT3M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3965740/medicare-50th-anniversary/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```