In 1966 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made a profound and prescient statement about health injustice, calling it “the most shocking and inhumane” form of inequality. Sixty years later, after notable efforts to right that wrong by expanding access to health care, most notably with the Affordable Care Act, health injustice is escalating in the United States. Our collective physical and mental health is deteriorating. Our public health infrastructure is being dismantled before our very eyes. Our health care system is on the brink of collapse.
This year in particular, as the Trump administration continues its assault on King’s legacy, there will be lots of commentary about what he would have thought and said about the current domestic and global state of affairs. But when it comes to our collective national health, King’s words remain as timely as ever.
