Last Friday, the UCSB History Department hosted a symposium on healthcare reform as a part of the “Great Society at Fifty: Democracy in America, 1964/2014” series.

Inspired by a commencement address given by Lyndon B. Johnson 60 years ago, “The Great Society at Fifty” series explores enduring conflicts in civil rights and social reform through lectures, courses and other educational offerings. Events are hosted through the collaboration of various campus departments, and will continue to be held through the end of the 2013-2014 academic year.

Professor Paul Starr, the former senior advisor of healthcare policy to President Bill Clinton, opened the symposium with his talk, “America’s Peculiar Struggle over Health Care, Then and Now.” Afterwards, a panel of local healthcare leaders discussed the current state of healthcare in the United States.

Caitlin Rathe, a Ph.D. student in the History Department and graduate student assistant to the “Great Society at Fifty” series, said the talk threaded together discussion on various healthcare reforms through the years.

“Basically, we’re trying to connect the past and the present because a lot of these Great Society programs that were implemented in the 60’s still exist in some form, but a lot of them are under attack now,” Rathe said. “We’re trying to build dialogue around them using the 50th anniversary to bring attention to them.”