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By the early 1950s, it was becoming apparent that a growing number of elderly Americans had no economic protection from the increasing cost of health care.
一直到19世纪60年代早期的时候，很明显的是，随着医疗保险费用的增加，越来越多的美国老年人没有经济保障。
Most people over 65 had very low incomes and few owned private health insurance of any kind. Congress began a years–long debate on this issue of national health insurance for the elderly.
大部分超过65岁的人有极低的收入来源，而且很少会有人有任何一种私人医疗保险。国会关于老年人医疗补助的事儿展开了为期多年的讨论。
Critics in Congress feared Medicare would lead to substandard and overpriced care, and felt that it should serve only the indigent.
国会上引发的那些争论可能会引发低标准却费用过高的医保，而且还有一点让人担忧的是它可能只受益于穷人。
They also predicted that, with growing numbers participating, it would eventually bankrupt the federal Treasury.
他们也在预测，随着越来越多的参与度，联邦财政部最终可能会破产。
The legislative compromise that became the final Medicare Act – officially known as the "Social Security Amendments of 1965” – was part of President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" program.
立法认为,最终的医疗保险法案将正式被称为“1965年的社会安全修正案——林登·约翰逊总统的“伟大社会”项目的一部分。
Today it protects more than 40 million Americans from the high cost of hospital care.
现今它使得超过4千万的美国人都享受到了医疗保险，免除了就医的高昂费用。
Much of the program's costs are covered by payroll taxes paid by workers.
项目的大部分费用都是工人的工资税。
Yet costs quickly started to exceed expectations, and as Americans' life expectancy increased over the years, the Medicare program became even more expensive.
然后这些费用很快就都超出了人们的预期，正如这些年来，美国人的预期寿命在上涨一样，医保也变得越来越昂贵。
It has become a matter of national debate and a financial issue for every Congress and President since.
自此这已经变成了一个国内争论的焦点问题，每个国会和总理的财政问题。
Today it is still one of the fastest growing items in the federal budget. Nonetheless, Medicare remains a popular program, and a well–established part of the federal government's role in our society.
如今在政府预算中医保还是一个快速增长的款项。除此之外，医保还是一个很受欢迎的项目，还是联邦政府中相对完善的一部分。
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