A New Kind of Democracy? Political and Cultural Developments in the 1960s 401savings they have so carefully put away.” And the government immediately
began to put its money behind the new program, with costs rising from $3.4
billion to $18 billion in the first decade after passage. As a result, almost all
aged Americans qualified for hospitalization benefits, and well over 90 percent
also purchased supplementary doctor’s insurance. About 95 percent of doctors,
most of which originally opposed the bill, eventually participated in the
Medicare system. Millions of men and women with health problems who
previously could not afford medical care now could be treated.
Likewise, the Medicaid program reached large segments of the population,
with the number of beneficiaries soaring from 4 to 24 million in a decade and
funding growing to $14 billion. Additional measures covering medical research
passed Congress as well, leading to expanded funding in the fights against
heart disease, cancer, strokes, and mental retardation. Death rates from tuber-
culosis and measles declined, more young people than ever were immunized
from childhood diseases, and thousands of new doctors and nurses were
FIGuRE 8-1 President Johnson signs the Medicare Bill, Left to Right:
Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Harry S. Truman, Vice President Hubert
Humphrey, Bess Truman, 1965