Since 1965, Medicare has been highly successful in achieving affordable health coverage for hundreds of millions of elderly and disabled Americans. Today Medicare covers nearly 43 million Americans, including 36 million individuals age 65 and older, and seven million younger adults with permanent disabilities. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 47 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Medicare benefits are expected to total $374 billion in 2006, accounting for 14 percent of the federal budget (CBO, 2006).

In 1965, our nation made a commitment to protect the health and well-being of seniors by establishing the Medicare program. The mission of the Catholic health ministry, in accordance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, compels us to be distinguished through "service to and advocacy for those people whose social condition puts them at the margins of our society and makes them particularly vulnerable to discrimination." Continuing to preserve and strengthen that commitment to our nation's seniors is a vital component of ensuring a more just and equitable health care system.

For more information about CHA's position and activities to help strengthen Medicare, see the related documents under Medicare Communications and the policy brief Strengthening Medicare.