To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, along with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, hosted program participants, healthcare professionals and insurers, among others, at the PACE Organization of Rhode Island in Providence on Friday.

The delegation reiterated their commitment to fighting for Medicare and Medicaid programs, which were signed into law in July of 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. As of May of this year over 200,000 Rhode Islanders were enrolled in Medicare and more than 270,000 in Medicaid.

“When you look at Rhode Island we have so many seniors,” Whitehouse said, “and all the difference this program has made in their lives. It’s a birthday worth celebrating.”

Langevin said it has made a world of difference not only for seniors across the United States but also for those with disabilities as a precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“It is not just privileged youth that should have access to quality healthcare,” he said.

He believes “we have our work cut out for us” in ensuring both programs remain in place.

Cicilline said those who fight against the programs, have forgotten or weren’t around to know what it was like before the programs were put in place.

“A lot of our country’s seniors were living in poor houses and couldn’t afford treatment,” he said. “These programs were transformative for our society and reflect the values of our country. We should be proud of that.”

Before being elected to Congress, Cicilline said he had never met anyone who hadn’t appreciated the programs.

“I think about what a different country we would be if those who wanted to do away with programs got their wish,” he said.

“It would be an unthinkable prospect if we didn’t have these programs,” Dr. Alan Kurose from Coastal Medical said, offering a medical professional’s point of view.

Kathleen Connell, AARP Rhode Island president and CEO, a leading organization in support of Medicare and Medicaid, said, “I am always surprised to meet people who don’t support these programs.”

She said that AARP’s founder Ethel Percy Andrus was a big believer in healthcare programs for elders even before Medicare and Medicaid and AARP would continue to fight for the programs.

John Pernorio, president of the Rhode Island Alliance for Retired Americans, said seniors in Rhode Island were “lucky to have a delegation that supports its seniors 150 percent.”

Pernorio said when talking to other chapters of the Alliance for Retired Americans he often hears how they are struggling to get their local legislators to fight for Medicare and Medicaid.

Cicilline says we need to focus on strengthening and improving both systems, not to do away with it.

Fifty years ago, Blue Cross and Blue Shield had been a major supporter of Medicare and Medicaid and Peter Andruszkievicz, president of BCBSRI, said seniors continue to “flock” to the two programs. He noted the programs will continue to change alongside the medical system, and he sees the two programs growing to incorporate more “patients and team-centered” care that helps patients navigate the complex and multiple options of the American healthcare system.

Whitehouse pointed out that both programs have expanded to help more than just seniors. He said that children and grandchildren shouldn’t have to go broke to care for their families.

Merrill Thomas, from the Providence Community Health Centers, said without the two programs he rather doubts that his parents would be alive because the procedures, treatments and medications they have required would be impossible to pay for without insurance. He exampled his mother’s recent pacemaker implantation procedure, which would cost over $30,000 without insurance.

Whitehouse said many often blame Medicare and Medicaid for being expensive, but he assured the programs aren’t in themselves expensive, but they exist in an extremely costly healthcare system.

“These programs are a reminder that Congress can do good things,” Whitehouse said.