Big Shoes to Fill: The Endicott Johnson Medical Plan as a Model of Universal Healthcare and its Impact On Health Advocacy

Author: Margalit Frank

Field of Study: Philosophy, Politics and Law

Program Affiliation: IASH

Faculty Mentors: Stephen Ortiz

Easel: 69

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: Found in New York’s Triple Cities between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, the Endicott Johnson Shoe Factory (EJ) was nationally known for its extensive employee benefit programs. Central among these was the EJ Medical Plan, which provided comprehensive medical care to employees and their dependents at no charge, while simultaneously supporting and providing healthcare to the surrounding community. By the late 1920s, the scale and scope of the medical department set itself apart from other employer-based healthcare plans, attracting attention from writers of welfare capitalism and advocates of universal healthcare. This paper aims to analyze the ways in which the EJ Shoe factory acted as an early model of universal healthcare and determine the extent to which it influenced the national conversation of healthcare in the 1940s and 1950s. The analysis therein draws from company records, local and national newspaper coverage, and published advocacy for universal healthcare.