July 30: Wilbur Cohen, Medicare and Medicaid

The indefatigable work of social scientist Wilbur Cohen was rewarded on this date in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Medicare and Medicaid program. Cohen, then serving as Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (eventually he headed the department), had helped draft the Social Security Act of 1934 and was involved in the creation of both the New Deal and Great Society programs. Medical World News called him “the man who built Medicare” and described him as “largely responsible for putting the pieces together... and working incessantly for a rapprochement between government agencies and the medical profession.” Johnson quoted Cohen as saying, “If we can just keep the faith for three more years we’ll eradicate hunger in this country” and called him “the most can-do man I have got in the cabinet.” Cohen died in 1987 at the age of 73. “An expert on Social Security is a person who knows Wilbur Cohen’s telephone number.” —Senator Paul Douglas Listen to Wilbur Cohen discuss what became the Social Security Amendments of 1965 with President Johnson in a March 23, 1965 phone call. Other speakers on the call are Speaker of the House John McCormack, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Wilbur Mills, and House Democratic Majority Leader Carl Albert.