What Year Was Medicare And Medicaid Established? 
Medicare and Medicaid was created by congress in 1965 under the social security act and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson . It was created to help provide health insurance to people age 65 and up , regardless of their income or health status . Several major changes have been made to the programs over the years such as the Medicare modernization act , signed in 2003 , that added outpatient prescription drug coverage -LRB- as well as a number of other benefits -RRB- . 