Contact your enrollment specialist to be reviewed for an application fee waiver.

The “When I Was Your Age … ” Guide to Health Care Conversations

November 20, 2017 

Let’s say you’re a millennial and your parents are baby boomers. They may tell you the world was a very different place when they were growing up. And they’re right. When you were born, there were roughly 100 million more Americans than during the first years of your parents’ generation. Baby boomers were born in the wake of World War II, and the early years of their childhood predated Medicaid and Medicare, Roe v. Wade, and the emergence of the AIDS crisis. So, when politics and health care come up, it’s easier to talk past each other without the facts.

In the spirit of encouraging productive conversations, we’ve compiled timelines and events to offer some context for generational conversations. When you find yourself in a conversation that begins “When I was your age … ”,  taking a breath and considering the historical, social, economic and political context is a great way to spark a conversation that leads to greater mutual understanding.

Guide to Healthcare Conversations

  • 1928-1945

    The Silent Generation is Born

    Presidents in Office:

    • Calvin Coolidge
    • Herbert Hoover
    • Franklin D. Roosevelt
    • Harry S. Truman

    U.S. Population in 1930 = 123 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 1929: The Stock Market Crash
    • 1929-1939: The Great Depression
    • 1930: The Ransdell Act establishes the National Institute (later Institutes) of Health
    • 1935: Congress passes the Social Security Act
    • 1939-1945: World War II
    • 1945: President Truman proposes a “universal” national health care program

    1946-1954

    Early Baby Boomers Born
    The Silent Generation is 1-26 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • Harry S. Truman
    • Dwight D. Eisenhower

    U.S. Population in 1940 = 132 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 1946: President Truman’s national health care program fails to pass
    • 1946: Congress passes the Hill-Burton Act to fund the construction of health care infrastructure
    • 1948: President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which abolishes racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces
    • 1950-1953: Korean War
    • 1951: The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals forms to improve the quality of health care delivery through voluntary accreditation of hospitals
    • 1954: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision declares that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional

    1955-1964

    Late Baby Boomers Born
    The Early Baby Boomers are 1-18 years old
    The Silent Generation is 10-36 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • Dwight D. Eisenhower
    • John F. Kennedy

    U.S. Population in 1950 = 151 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 1955: Rosa Parks’ arrest marks the beginning of the modern civil rights movement
    • 1956: Congress passes the Dependents’ Medical Care Act, providing health care for wives and children of active-duty members of the armed forces
    • 1955-1975: Vietnam War
    • 1960: Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP) is created to provide health care coverage to all federal workers
    • 1962: President John F. Kennedy signs the Migrant Health Act, the first federally-funded primary care program, into law
    • 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis
    • 1963: Congress passes the Equal Pay Act, aimed at eliminating wage differences based on sex
    • 1964: The Civil Rights Act becomes law

    1965-1971

    Early Generation X is born
    Baby Boomers are 1-25 years old
    The Silent Generation is 20-43 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • Lyndon B. Johnson
    • Richard M. Nixon

    U.S. Population in 1960 = 179 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 1965: The Supreme Court establishes the right of married couples to use contraception
    • 1965: President Johnson signs The Voting Rights Act into law, aimed at prohibiting racial discrimination in voting
    • 1965: President Johnson signs a law that leads to the development of Medicaid and Medicare
    • 1967: Through its Loving v. Virginia decision, the Supreme Court makes it illegal to prohibit interracial marriage
    • 1969: A major anti-Vietnam War protest in D.C. draws more than half a million people
    • 1971: The term “war on drugs” is popularized after Nixon declares drug abuse “public enemy number one”

    1972-1980

    Late Generation X is born
    Early Generation X is 1-15 years old
    Baby Boomers are 8-34 years old
    The Silent Generation is 27-52 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • Richard M. Nixon
    • Gerald R. Ford
    • Jimmy Carter

    U.S. Population in 1970 = 203 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 1972: The Senate passes the Equal Rights Amendment
    • 1973: Roe v. Wade legalizes abortion
    • 1973: The U.S. pulls its last troops out of Vietnam
    • 1974: The Health Planning and Resources Development Act forces states to improve federal and state level health planning and resource development
    • 1977: The National Medical Care Expenditure Survey provides the first detailed data on individuals’ health care costs
    • 1978: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans employment discrimination against pregnant women
    • 1980: The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare becomes The Department of Health and Human Services
    • 1980: The AIDS crisis in the U.S. begins, largely affecting members of the gay community

    1981-1990

    Early Millennials are Born
    Generation X is 1-24 years old
    Baby Boomers are 17-43 years old
    The Silent Generation is 36-61 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • Ronald Reagan
    • George H.W. Bush

    U.S. Population in 1980 = 227 million

    • Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:1981: President Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice
    • 1986: The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requires hospitals participating in Medicare to screen and treat anyone with emergency medical conditions, regardless of ability to pay
    • 1986: COBRA allows employees who lose their jobs to continue with their health plan for 18 months
    • 1987: Congresses passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act
    • 1988: Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act expands Medicare coverage to include prescription drugs and a cap on beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket expenses
    • 1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall airs live on television
    • 1989: Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web

    1990-1997

    Late Millennials are born
    Early Millennials are 1-16 years old
    Generation X is 10-32 years old
    Baby Boomers are 26-51 years old
    The Silent Generation is 45-69 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • George H. W. Bush
    • Bill Clinton

    U.S. Population in 1990 = 249 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 1991: The Soviet Union collapses, officially ending the Cold War
    • 1991: President George H. W. Bush signs Civil Rights Act of 1991, strengthening anti-discrimination laws in cases of employment discrimination
    • 1993: President Clinton signs the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, preventing openly gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals from becoming service members, while also prohibiting the harassment or discrimination against closeted homosexual service members
    • 1996: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act sets standards for medical records privacy and creates the ability for American workers and their families to transfer and continue health insurance coverage when they change or lose their jobs
    • 1996: President Clinton signs the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act into law, which drastically changes the welfare system by adding work requirements with time-limited assistance

    1998-2008

    Generation Z is born
    Millennials are 1-27 years old
    Generation X is 18-43 years old
    Baby Boomers are 34-62 years old
    The Silent Generation is 53-80 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • George W. Bush
    • Barack Obama

    U.S. Population in 2000 = 281 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 2001: President Bush signs the USA Patriot Act into law following the Sept. 11 attacks
    • 2002: President Bush’s Health Center Growth Initiative expands the health center program in order to increase access to primary health care services
    • 2003: The Medicare Drug Improvement and Modernization Act passes, creating a subsidized prescription drug benefit under Medicare
    • 2003: “Operation Iraqi Freedom” signals the start of the Iraq War
    • 2006: Proposed changes to U.S. immigration policy sparks protests and demonstrations for immigrants’ rights
    • 2007: Sparked by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, the Great Recession begins
    • 2008: The Mental Health Parity Act mandates that insurance companies must treat mental health conditions the same as physical health conditions

    2009-2017

    Generation Z is 1-19 years old
    Millennials are 12-36 years old
    Generation X is 29-52 years old
    Baby Boomers are 45-72 years old
    The Silent Generation is 64-89 years old

    Presidents in Office:

    • Barack Obama
    • Donald Trump

    U.S. Population in 2010 = 309 million

    Timeline of social, political, economic and health care events:

    • 2010: President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), requiring that all individuals have health care insurance beginning in 2014
    • 2011: President Obama formally repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
    • 2013: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lifts the ban against women in military combat positions
    • 2015: Though Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court rules that same-sex couples have the right to marriage
    • 2017: Washington, D.C., residents become the first people in the U.S. to be allowed to choose a gender neutral option on their driver’s license
    • 2017: President Trump proposes a repeal and replace of the ACA, which passes in the House, but fails in the Senate

    Sources

When sharing our content, please cite us as “MPH@GW, the online MPH program from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University.”