HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra Statement Marking 59^th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid

Today, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra released the following statement to mark the 59^th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid on July 30, 2024:

When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law, the United States moved a step closer to being a country where health care was recognized as a right, not treated as a privilege only available to a select few. Today, on the 59^th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, we honor these two great programs and the role they have played over the past six decades in helping Americans live longer, healthier lives and achieve economic security.

At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we have made it a priority to increase access for everyone eligible for coverage. We continue to break barriers when it comes to enrollment, reaching record numbers of health coverage enrollment and the lowest uninsured rate – ever.

Thanks to the President’s new lower cost prescription drug law, the lives of Medicare recipients are changing for the better. We have capped the price of insulin at $35 per month; made recommended, preventive vaccines free; and for the first time, Medicare is negotiating directly with pharmaceutical companies to bring down the price of prescription drugs.

Fewer people with Medicare are being put in the impossible position of having to choose between taking their medication and vaccines and paying for their rent, energy bill, or some other critical expenditure. President Biden and Vice President Harris have not just lowered costs for people with Medicare, they are saving taxpayer dollars so the program will be around for our children and grandchildren.

Medicaid provides health insurance for more than 80 million Americans. It is the single largest source of health insurance coverage for our nation’s children, individuals with disabilities, and those that need long term care. It covers nearly half of all births nationally. The health and economic benefits of Medicaid are lifelong: When children have Medicaid, better health outcomes persist through adulthood. Children with Medicaid have improved educational outcomes, contributing to higher rates of employment and earnings as adults. The Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid has reduced mortality and improved financial well-being for the individuals newly gaining coverage and has provided billions in economic benefits to health care providers and state governments.

The data are clear: strengthening Medicaid benefits not only the individual, but the community. Thanks to President Biden and Vice President Harris, we’ve implemented mandatory, national, continuous coverage for children, expanded services through Medicaid in schools, expanded postpartum coverage for women to nearly all states, and finalized new requirements that will ensure better access to care for all those with Medicaid health insurance, in every great state in our nation. We have made care more accessible for the millions of seniors and people with disabilities by increasing funding for home and community-based services.

Everyone deserves to go to the doctor when they need to without worries about financial ruin. It is unconscionable that extremists, including Republicans in Congress, continue to propose cuts that would undermine Medicare and Medicaid.

Together, Medicare and Medicaid have given millions of Americans access to affordable, quality health care coverage and the peace of mind that comes with it. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to protecting and strengthening these programs and we will continue to expand Medicare and Medicaid to ensure all Americans – no matter who they are or where they live – have access to high-quality, affordable health care.