Page 304 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

Beers with our Founding Fathers

the individual because there were no worker compensation laws or

protections. Worker compensation and occupational safety would
later become the early justifiable causes and successes of the

unions. This slowly evolved into general major medical coverage,
replacing the fee-based system in which all persons paid 100% of

their healthcare – often making it out of reach to them. The major
medical insurance model would take care of those events that a

person could not afford – historically resulting in debtors’ prison.
Wars and the economy added to the individual debt and traumatic

medical care could put a person in debtors’ prison. Bankruptcy laws
began to also change in the mid-1800’s. There was still no

nationalized healthcare program (at any level of treatment). In the
late 1800’s, coverage would change from major medical coverage to

additional coverage – but not routine or preventive medicine
coverage. These were based on leverage – an insurance company

would collect a premium based on actuarial studies. This premium
was a bet that only a small percentage of the covered would make a

claim. The insurance company would profit and the covered would
avoid debtors’ prison and bankruptcy.

In the early 1900’s, after the international crisis of World War I,
was another economic crisis – the worst in our history, The Great

Depression. This placed even the smallest of needs out of reach of
many. Debtors’ prisons were gone by this time, but a person could

not afford insurance or loans – they were not employed, or if

employed it was at a depressed wage and not ideal working
conditions. As the government began to develop Well Fair public
assistance programs to keep Americans and businesses treading

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