This week Americans will be able to celebrate 50 years of providing essential health and wellness services to Seniors through LBJ’s landmark Medicare Program. In 2011, Chester County estimated that the number of Medicare age-eligible residents in Chester County was over 120,000.  That number is likely to grow as more and more baby boomers enter into retirement.

The good news? The quality of care is getting better and better.

From NPR:

“Older Americans on Medicare are spending less time in the hospital; they’re living longer; and the cost of a typical hospital stay has actually come down over the past 15 years, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.”

The researchers at Yale studied statistics from 60 million Americans on traditional Medicare between 1999 and 2013. They found that not only did mortality rates drop significantly, but “the average cost of a hospital stay dropped too…from $3,290 to $2,801 in inflation-adjusted dollars over the 15-year period for patients in the traditional Medicare program” as well.

There aren’t many industries where improving quality of service results in declining costs. But it makes sense if you consider effective doctoring means less time spent in the hospital.

Anyway, here’s to 50 more years of Medicare keeping our parents, grandparents and, one day, ourselves healthy.