Health Insurance in America

2133 Words5 Pages

Long time ago, there was no need for health insurance in America, as doctors had many clients because their services were not so expensive and in some cases in rural areas, people could pay by giving other items. Doctors were not as knowledgeable as they are nowadays to care for the sick, therefore this didn't have much effect then on the patients, as they were treated for the basic illnesses.
As progress was made in medicine gradually with new medical technologies which could only be used in the hospitals, doctors started charging more, which was unaffordable for most people, with time, all this started to change as the industrialization of the American economy caused families and people to start relying on services from doctors and the hospitals for treatment. In 1929, a system was created in Dallas, Texas (1) which charged everyone the same. This insurance was to ease the healthcare problem and create a happy scenario for both the doctors and patient, which employers added health to employment packages to boost labor due to shortage after the Second World War. Soon, other private insurance companies were entering the market, thereby creating competition as costs were determined by several factors leaving the sick ones out and insuring healthy people.
Problems of healthcare were compounded because even though some employers included health care benefits that, it expired after they retired. While the poor, self-employed or those working for employers unable to provide insurance had no health insurance. These problems had to be addressed in an efficiently and not only temporarily, but for the future.
Although insurance has been around for centuries, Sidney R. Garfield, a young surgeon, took the initiative and laid the foundation...

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