Brooklyn, N.Y. – Representative Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement to commemorate the forty-eighth anniversary of the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid.

“Medicare and Medicaid are a promise from the people of the United States to their fellow Americans that we will provide health care to senior citizens, people with disabilities, and low-income Americans. This promise has become a foundation of our civil society,” said Representative Clarke. “Soon, we will extend this promise to every American, with the Affordable Care Act.”

Today, Medicare provides health insurance for almost fifty million Americans. Medicaid provides health insurance for another sixty million people, a number that includes more than thirty million children, as well as coverage for long term care and nursing homes. Under the Affordable Care Act, the income limits on Medicaid will increase in many states, allowing more people to obtain critical health care services.

“Before the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid, there were claims that these programs would undermine our society. These claims were false. Today, even people who stated these false claims realize that Medicare and Medicaid are necessary parts of our system of health care,” said Representative Clarke. “I am certain that, in a few years, the false claims about the Affordable Care Act will also have been discredited.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.