Opponents of Medicare made dire predictions when the program was being debated in Congress in the 1960s. They argued that it would degrade the quality of Americans’ healthcare, slow medical progress, exacerbate existing shortages of physicians and nurses, undermine the economy, burden lower-wage workers, and threaten Americans’ freedom. For example, they claimed that under Medicare:

• “[A] deterioration in the quality of care is inescapable” (Dr. Donovan Ward, President of the American Medical Association)
• “[P]rogress in medicine will be stunted and shriveled by an excess of government control” (Representative Durward Hall)
• “Medical care in this country is heading for a real crisis. … Shortages of many kinds will be encountered” (U.S. News and World Report)
• “[There will be] a series of terrific jolts, not only to industry but to every individual working man and woman in America” (Republican presidential candidate General Hanford MacNider)
• “[I]ts ill effects will be felt in the … unwarranted, regressive tax burden on our citizens” (Representative Edward Derwinski)

Ronald Reagan told a radio audience:

“We do not want socialized medicine. … [B]ehind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country. Until, one day, … you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it was once like in America when men were free.”

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As Medicare approaches its 60th birthday, however, it is abundantly clear that none of these doomsday projections were accurate. In fact, the opposite has occurred. Medicare has dramatically enhanced the care received by seniors, spurred medical innovation, boosted the medical workforce, addressed inequities in care, and helped protect seniors from crushing medical expenses.