Today is Medicare’s 45th birthday. Despite its faults and limitations, without Medicare coverage, much of what we do in the GeriPal world would not be possible. I think it’s worth reflecting on what Lyndon Johnson had to say about Medicare during the struggle to pass the legislation: “I'll go a hundred million or a billion on health or education. I don't argue about that any more than I argue about Lady Bird [Mrs. Johnson] buying flour. You got to have flour and coffee in your house and education and health. I'll spend the goddamn money. I may cut back some tanks. But not on health” (from NEJM 11/27/2008) ...and what he said on July 30, 1965 during the signing ceremony: “No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and thei