Which 1965 U.S. law created both Medicare and Medicaid?

The Social Security Amendments of 1965 created both Medicare and Medicaid in the United States.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the amendments on July 30, 1965, in Independence, Missouri. The legislation expanded the Social Security system by establishing federal health insurance for older Americans and a jointly funded medical assistance program for eligible low-income people.

Medicare and Medicaid began operations in 1966. Medicare was structured as a federal program, while Medicaid was designed as a federal-state partnership. Their different financing and eligibility rules remain important distinctions today.

The law is sometimes confused with the Social Security Act of 1935, which created the original Social Security system, or with the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which made later reforms to health coverage. Neither of those laws created Medicare and Medicaid.