I am curious how companies got such a "foothold" in the United States.

 

  • Ghost of Zeuz 2:04 pm on July 22, 2010

    Because the UNIONS wanted benefits for their members. The UNIONS created the insurance companies and get a huge kick-back from them.

  • StephenWeinstein 2:04 pm on July 22, 2010

    The first is thought to be Franklin Health Assurance Company of Massachusetts. However, the original policies where what we now call accident insurance, not what we know call health insurance.

    Health insurance in the modern sense (covering illness, not just accidents) was introduced in the late 19th or early 20th century but did not become very common until the early 1940’s. During World War Two, the government limted the wages that companies could pay to employees, and many companies bought health insurance as a way to provide employees with more total compensation than they could provide in actual money.