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How Civil Rights Legislation Helped Birth Medicare

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The term "Medicare for all" is getting a workout in the presidential campaign.  People sometimes forget there was Medicare for none until 1965, and it took a big battle to get the program through Congress. 

Note that 1965 was also the year of the Voting Rights Act, a companion to the Civil Rights Act of a year before.  Medicare played a part in integrating American medicine, a story covered by the documentary film "The Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution."

It will screen in Arcata on Saturday (March 7th), sponsored by Black Humboldt, Health Care For All-California, and Physicians for a National Health Program.  PNHP President-Elect Susan Rogers and Humboldt County physician Corinne Frugoni are the guests. 

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.