Medicare Monday: Celebrating President’s Day with a brief Medicare history

This President’s Day, we wanted to look back at three key moments in the history of Medicare.

• Creation of Part A and Part B: On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Social Security Act Amendments, which created the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The original Medicare program consisted of Part A, hospital insurance and Part B, medical insurance.

• Creation of Part C: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997, signed by President Bill Clinton, created Part C. Originally called Medicare+Choice and later renamed Medicare Advantage, Part C is a managed care option in Medicare.

• Creation of Part D: President George W. Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 on December 8, 2003. Known as MMA, this law included the creation of the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D), which took effect in 2006. Learn more about Part D at org/partD.

Last year, on July 30, 2015, Medicare turned 50 (check out our post celebrating Medicare’s 50th anniversary), and this year we’re celebrating the 10th year since the implementation of Part D.