Senate Concurrent Resolution 25 Summary

• Commemorates the 50th anniversary of Medicare's creation on January 7, 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson called upon Congress to provide health insurance for older Americans, people with disabilities, and vulnerable populations.

• Recognizes that Medicare currently provides health benefits to 54,000,000 older and disabled Americans, including more than 625,000 Oklahomans.

• Notes that Medicare has increased access to care, raised life expectancy, decreased poverty among older and disabled Americans, and maintained administrative costs at only 2 percent of total costs.

• Directs Oklahoma to pledge approaching difficult public policy challenges with the bipartisan spirit that enabled Medicare's creation 50 years ago.

• Requires copies of the resolution be transmitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oklahoma's congressional delegation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and leaders of the U.S. House and Senate.