Fine. It's still an onslaught. The "shouting head" approach to education is a big misstep. It should be avoided at all costs. Link 2: THAT is what I speak of - a system of basic health insurance that was affordable and universal to all, essentially, that was annihilated by the Stabilization Act of 1942.Also, wouldn't small organizations have it worse off because they have less leverage with regards to negotiating prices?
This era also saw the birth of one of the largest health insurance programs—the “Blues.” In Dallas, the administrators of Baylor Hospital created a system to help close the affordability gap and attract patients by offering high school teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 per year. Similar prepaid hospital plans developed throughout the nation and were endorsed by the American Hospital Association. Combined under the name Blue Cross (BC), these plans had tax-exempt status under state laws that allowed them to operate as nonprofit organizations.
Around the same time, Blue Shield (BS) was developed by medical service bureaus composed of physician groups in the Pacific Northwest to provide medical care to lumber and mine workers for a monthly fee. Everyone was charged the same premium, regardless of age, sex, or pre-existing conditions.
These plans were so popular that when Sen. Robert Wagner (D-N.Y.), Sen. James Murray (D-Mont.), and Rep. John Dingell Sr. (D-Mich.) proposed a national health insurance plan in 1943, the legislation failed, in part due to backlash against government expansion into an area now well-covered by the nonprofit sector.
Watch what happens: http://i.imgur.com/Xzu0b3h.gif See that sharp climb between 1946 and 1952? That's " The formerly non-profit insurance companies found themselves in a competitive marketplace where their offerings became an extension of salary. Meanwhile, McCarthyism, which made it really hard to go back to anything "socialized" in a nutshell. You're also missing: So. We go from an AFLAC-like disability insurance because "health insurance was AFFORDABLE and universal to all" (doesn't mean they all had it, meant they could all buy it - $6 a year in 1921 is $76 a year in 2012) to exactly what I said.Health insurance—as it has evolved in the United States—began in the early 1900s. During this time, health care itself was not very costly; the chief cost associated with illness was actually the loss of wages. Thus, “sickness insurance,” similar to our current concept of disability insurance, was meant to cover loss of wages.
This era also saw the birth of one of the largest health insurance programs—the “Blues.” In Dallas, the administrators of Baylor Hospital created a system to help close the affordability gap and attract patients by offering high school teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 per year. Similar prepaid hospital plans developed throughout the nation and were endorsed by the American Hospital Association. Combined under the name Blue Cross (BC), these plans had tax-exempt status under state laws that allowed them to operate as nonprofit organizations.