The Medicare Hospital Certification Program Oral Histories: NIH Staff Volunteering Against Segregation

In March and April 2021, Gordon Margolin, M.D., a volunteer in the Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, conducted oral histories of NIH staff who had volunteered to visit hospitals in the southern United States to certify that they had desegregated before the Medicare Act went into effect July 1, 1966. Each volunteer had his own unique experience.

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However, passage of the Medicare Act, set to become law on July 1,1966, provided an incentive to hospitals to integrate as well as Federal oversight: Medicare funds would be withheld from hospitals which failed to comply with the new law and its explicit requirement of equal treatment and care for all Americans. Opposition to this law was extensive, both by community and hospital officials and by organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. Recognizing that the effective date of Medicare was fast approaching, the Federal government decided to send representatives to the South to assess if hospitals had complied with desegregation requirements. Federal employees were recruited on a volunteer basis to visit hospitals across the South. The four Public Health Service officers listed below were NIH staff members at the time who responded to the call to join this project. Because these interviews capture the memories of events that took place several decades ago, some minor corrections and clarifying words, mostly marked in brackets, were added or substituted upon further reflection.

Dr. Paul Plotz, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases:

In 1966, Dr. Paul Plotz visited rural hospitals along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the southwest corner of Tennessee to see if they were integrated in compliance with the Medicare Act. His oral history discusses how the Public Health Service staff trained for their visits and some of his experiences in the South, both congenial and threatening.

Dr. Stanley Rapoport, National Institute of Mental Health:

In 1965, Dr. Stanley Rapoport went on an information-gathering trip to Bogalusa, Louisiana, to see if the Charity Hospital was integrating per the Hill-Burton Act. He met with representatives of the Congress of Racial Equality, stayed with members of the Deacons for the Defense and Justice, faced intimidation by the Ku Klux Klan, and was arrested. His visit became a training lesson for the NIH Public Health Service officers who followed the next year to enforce Medicare regulations on integration.

Dr. Paul Plotz, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases:

In 1966, Dr. Paul Plotz visited rural hospitals along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the southwest corner of Tennessee to see if they were integrated in compliance with the Medicare Act. His oral history discusses how the Public Health Service staff trained for their visits and some of his experiences in the South, both congenial and threatening.

Dr. Norman Robbins, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke:

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