When I go to a hospital and say, “thank God for LBJ,” my words often are met with a questioning look. I explain that those are the initials of a great man named Lyndon Baynes Johnson. As our president, he not only signed the Civil Rights Act, but initiated Medicare, protecting everyone as they reached the age of 65.

I didn’t go along with him and Robert MacNamara about Vietnam, but I and probably most other Nam vets likely forgive his errors.

Why do we need Obamacare? With Medicare and Medicaid, everybody older than 65 and those too poor to afford insurance were covered. Now Barack Obama wants to cover everybody?

What was wrong with living until you reached 65 to enjoy coverage that you paid into for years?

It seems to me that we had a fair system, and most of us tried to care for our health and only went to a hospital when needed and usually just saw our doctor for little ailments.

My wife had two children and back then we were able to pay for both deliveries and never cried poor mouth, although I was working for minimum wage at the time.

Well, the system is now broken, and Obamacare isn’t going to fix it. What we have now is a free for all to see who is first in line to get all the free gifts our government is offering.

We older folks fought the good fight and paid our own way, and there is no reason our followers can’t do the same. Anyone younger than 65 should have a darn good excuse for not working and not drain away the resources we older people put in place with the help of LBJ.

Frank Slason

Somerville

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