Johnson's Achievements

• Achievements

  • Medicare helped millions of elderly Americans out of poverty and within a decade became so popular that no resident dared to oppose it lest alienate the powerful ‘grey code’.
• Problems

  • Gaps in coverage (for example, eyeglasses)
  • Both Medicare and Medicaid were far more expensive than Johnson anticipated (medicare- $3.5 billion-1966 to $144 billion by 1933)
  • 1965- around 5% of the GNP was spent on healthcare but over 15% by 1990
  • Although one fifth of the population benefited from Medicare and Medicaid by 1976 the problem of reasonably priced care for all Americans remained