Happy Birthday, Medicare!

The anniversary of what became Title XVIII of the Social Security Act: the Medicare program.

(Today is also the 56th anniversary of Title XIV of the Social Security Act: Medicaid).

Medicare has been expanded, cut, reformed, and changed numerous times since President Johnson signed it into law in 1965. The most recent reforms came under Obamacare, which strengthened the Medicare Trust Fund, reformed payments to providers, cut hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies to private insurance companies, and provided seniors with an array of new or improved benefits.

In particular, Obamacare is closing the notorious prescription drug donut hole and in the meantime has saved 6.6 MILLION seniors more than $7 BILLION on their prescriptions. In addition, during just the first six months of this year, more than 16.5 MILLION seniors have taken advantage of preventive care services that are now free thanks to Obamacare.

Unfortunately, Republicans opposed the creation of Medicare 48 years ago, and they are doing their best to force Draconian cuts to the program today and for decades to come. Just this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proposed shifting billions in costs to seniors and businesses by raising the Medicare eligibility age and House Republicans are planning their 40th dead-end vote to repeal Obamacare.

BOTTOM LINE: Thanks in part to Obamacare, Medicare is still going strong 48 years later. And that’s definitely something worth celebrating.

1946

JUL31

Marilyn Monroe, then known as Norma Jean Dougherty, signs her first movie contract, with Twentieth-Century Fox. She will be paid $150 a week.

Source: history.com

1498 – Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, arrived at the island of Trinidad.

1790 – The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins for his process for making potash and pearl ashes. The substance was used in fertilizer.

1792 – The cornerstone of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, PA, was laid. It was the first building to be used only as a U.S. government building.

1919 – Germany’s Weimar Constitution was adopted.

1928 – MGM’s Leo the lion roared for the first time. He introduced MGM’s first talking picture, “White Shadows on the South Seas.”

1932 – Enzo Ferrari retired from racing. In 1950 he launched a series of cars under his name.

1945 – Pierre Laval of France surrendered to Americans in Austria.

1948 – U.S. President Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field.

1955 – Marilyn Bell of Toronto, Canada, at age 17, became the youngest person to swim the English Channel.

1959 – The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was founded. The group is known for being an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization.

1961 – The first tie in All-Star Game major league baseball history was recorded when it was stopped in the 9th inning due to rain at Boston’s Fenway Park.

1964 – The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon’s surface. 

1971 – Men rode in a vehicle on the moon for the first time in a lunar rover vehicle (LRV).

1981 – The seven-week baseball players’ strike came to an end when the players and owners agreed on the issue of free agent compensation.

1982 – Yugoslavia imposed a six-month freeze on prices.

1989 – A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a videotape reportedly showing the hanged body of American hostage William R. Higgins.

1989 – The Game Boy handheld video game device was released in the U.S.

1991 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

1995 – The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire Capital Cities/ABC in a $19 billion deal.
Disney movies, music and books

1999 – The spacecraft Lunar Prospect crashed into the moon. It was a mission to detect frozen water on the moon’s surface. The craft had been launched on January 6, 1998. 

2007 – The iTunes Music Store reached 2 million feature length films sold.