Political battles over Social Security, other ‘socialism’ programs won’t end in 2025
As Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Affordable Care Act celebrate their 90th, 60th, 35th and 15th anniversaries, the debate goes on
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Leonard Kirschner in an F-4, 1970.
Submitted photo
By Leonard Kirschner MD, MPH | Litchfield Park
Americans love anniversaries, whether it is the birth of our nation on July 4th, our parents’ 50th, Pearl Harbor or 9/11. The year 2025 has a number of significant anniversaries of laws that have changed American society in uncountable ways. Here's a look back:
Social Security
On Aug. 14, 1935, in the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Social Security into law. Opponents fought long and hard to stop passage calling it “socialism.” Ida May Fuller received the first Social Security check for the grand sum of $22.45.
Medicare and Medicaid
July 30, 2025, is the 60th anniversary of the historic signing of Medicare and Medicaid into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The ceremony took place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, and Harry Truman got Medicare card No. 1. His premium for Part B was $3 per month.
LBJ spoke only about Medicare and declared it a memorial to slain president, JFK. Medicaid was an afterthought, added at the last moment before the law was passed by a divided Congress, and was intended to be a rather modest program with minimal financial impact. Congressional opposition was fierce calling it, once again, “socialism.” The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, AHCCCS, is Arizona’s unique and successful Medicaid program.
Americans with Disabilities Act
On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law on the South Lawn of the White House, and the president considered it an extension of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. He said, “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.” The signing was the culmination of a quarter century of advocacy by and for the members of our society with disabilities. Some opponents called it “socialism.”
Affordable Care Act
Can you believe it has been 15 years since President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010? I don’t believe I need to recount the battles leading up to the passage and subsequent battles to “repeal and replace.” Opponents, when not talking about “death panels,” even called it “socialism.” Rejecting the call to repeal was one of Sen. John McCain’s finest hours.
Laws were years in the making
As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of Social Security, the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, the 35th anniversary of the ADA and the 15th anniversary of the ACA, remember that the passage of these five laws took years of effort, advocacy and politics to achieve the end result of passage.
Don’t forget that once the laws were signed, the political battles did not end. Stay tuned for the 2025 political battles and the repeated use of that 90-year-old pejorative, “socialism.” The debate has not ended and will not end in our lifetime.
Editor’s note: Leonard Kirschner MD, MPH is a retired Air Force colonel who served as AHCCCS director from 1987 to 1993. He lives in Litchfield Park. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
