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Originally Posted by Clip-Clop
This sounds like it was for workers though? Big difference here.
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How so? They were private ships and private employees and private owners of those ships.
The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance. Via a tax on their employers (the employee had to pay - no choice - out of their pay, and the employer forwarded it to the government)
Private business had to pay a tax to the government, which then provided health care. Pretty simple.
The point is: the founding fathers were far more "liberal" than not. They were "elite", "over-educated", "European-influenced", and didn't think much of the bible (to paraphrase Bill Maher). No matter what the Tea Baggers selectively try to co-opt.
Quoting the second article:
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Adam Rothman, an associated professor of history at Georgetown University .... "It's a good example that the post-revolutionary generation clearly thought that the national government had a role in subsidizing health care," Rothman says. "That in itself is pretty remarkable and a strong refutation of the basic principles that some Tea Party types offer."
"You could argue that it's precedent for government run health care," Rothman continues. "This defies a lot of stereotypes about limited government in the early republic."
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