The Federal Effort to Desegregate Southern Hospitals and the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap
In 1966, Southern hospitals were barred from participating in Medicare unless they discontinued their long-standing practice of racial segregation. Using data from five Deep South states and exploiting county-level variation in Medicare certification dates, we find that gaining access to an ostensibly integrated hospital had no effect on the Black-White infant mortality gap. Similarly, there is little evidence that the federal hospital desegregation campaign contributed to the trend towards in-hospital births among Southern Black mothers. These results are consistent with descriptions of the campaign as producing only cosmetic changes and illustrate the limits of anti-discrimination policies imposed upon reluctant actors.
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