US takes on health care discrimination: Celebrating 50 years of The Nation’s Health
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![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/51/5/12/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/51/5/12/F1)

In 1980, The Nation’s Healthreported on discriminatory practices that were common in U.S. hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities. People were regularly refused admission based on their race or ethnicity, and those with life-threatening emergencies who could not pay were turned away or diverted to public hospitals, among other practices.

In 1986, Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, requiring Medicare-participating hospitals with emergency departments “to screen and treat emergency medical conditions of patients in a non-discriminatory manner to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay, insurance status, national origin, race, creed or color,” according to the American College of Emergency Physicians.

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association