How Social Security Helped Desegregate America’s Hospitals
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: February 19, 2021
As we celebrate Black History Month, I want to share an incredible story. Back in the ‘60s, the Social Security Administration (SSA) played a vital role in desegregating hospitals in America.
On November 19, 1945, President Harry Truman proposed a national healthcare plan to Congress. He viewed healthcare as a basic human right, saying, “Our new Economic Bill of Rights should mean health security for all, regardless of residence, station, or race–everywhere in the United States.” However, it wasn’t until July 30, 1965, that President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare Act into law. President Johnson held the signing ceremony at the Truman Presidential Library, with President Truman and First Lady Truman looking on.
When the Medicare Act was implemented on July 1, 1966, many hospitals were still segregated, which did not align with the new Medicare law. If hospitals wanted to receive federal Medicare dollars, they had to desegregate. Social Security Commissioner Robert M. Ball coordinated a team of hundreds of federal employees and grassroots volunteers to ensure hospital compliance with desegregation. SSA employees walked through hospitals to verify that compliance. In a matter of months, the federal government took an important step towards ending the practice of segregating patients and doctors.
In an April 3, 2001 interview with the Social Security Historian’s Office, former Commissioner Ball remembered, “By the time we reached the deadline, we had 1,000 federal employees out in the field visiting these hospitals, because we had decided that we were not going to take anybody’s word for how they were going to desegregate. We were only going to let them in the Medicare program and pay them if they had actually desegregated. If in fact, we had inspected and seen it. That meant that in semi-private rooms in the South, for example, people of these two races who had been separate all their lives, were to be assigned beds as they came into the hospital. And if that meant a black and a white sharing a room, that was how it had to be.”
We are extremely proud of the role that SSA had in the Medicare Act implementation and hospital desegregation. SSA strives to continue this legacy by treating the public with fairness, equality, and compassion.
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Andrew Saul is Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
For more information on Medicare, and to read Commissioner Ball’s full interview, go to www.ssa.gov/history/index.html and www.ssa.gov/history/orals/ball3.html.
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Tags: Medicare
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Andrew Saul, Commissioner, Social Security Administration
Commissioner of Social Security Administration (June 17, 2019 - July 9, 2021)
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Larry E.
Thank you for the information on hospital desegregation in America in the early 60s. I think it was important at the time for African American communities. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has directly or indirectly affected all countries and regions of the world, and social safety nets play a critical role in trying to protect the poor and vulnerable during the crisis. Already 126 countries have implemented or adapted social protection programs or policies based on COVID-19, and there are currently 505 such programs. However, in many countries, they still have limited coverage where they are needed most. I think social support measures should help societies go through the period of a pandemic. By the way, I advise you to post this story on Facebook, where it can be seen and appreciated by a fairly large number of residents. I see similar posts there from time to time and noticed that they almost always had more than 32 thousand likes! I am sure in order to achieve such indicators, their sponsors have resorted to using the services of https://viplikes.net/ in order to quickly increase their number.