Obama marks 50th anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid

President Obama marked the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid Thursday by saying the U.S. should do more to expand and improve health care for all Americans, including the law he signed in 2010.

"We must recognize that this work, though begun a half-century ago and continued over the decades that have followed, is not yet complete," Obama said in a proclamation. "For too many, quality, affordable health care is still out of reach -- and we must recommit to finishing this important task."

The Medicare and Medicaid laws, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 30, 1965, are "cornerstones of the fundamental belief that in America, health care is a right and not a privilege," Obama said.

The president extolled the health care law signed in 2010, and said it is still being put into effect.

"On the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, let us not be content with the progress we have made," he said in the proclamation. "Instead, let us summon the resolve of the generations that came before us and recommit to advancing this noble cause."

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