In the summer 1798, 5000 people died of Yellow Fever across the cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Yellow Fever had become an annual epidemic and various state legislatures began to take action. In 1798, the New York state legislature gave the city of New York authority to pass health regulations in response to the epidemic that killed 1600 people in their own town. Other states and cities were following their lead. It was widely believed at the time that the disease was brought by seamen and immigrants to East Coast cities. Commerce on the seas was critically important to the United States and public health was considered to be the responsibility of the federal government. Earlier that year, in July of 1798 President Adams signed 'An Act of the relief of sick and disabled seamen' passed by the 5th Congress. This act authorized a deduction of twenty cents per month from the wages of seamen, for the sole purpose of funding medical care for sick and disabled seamen. Now, in December of 1798 President John Adams began his state of the union address with a call on congress to "to examine the expediency of establishing suitable regulations in aid of the health laws of the respective States".
"But when we reflect that this fatal disorder has within a few years made repeated ravages in some of our principal sea ports, and with increased malignancy, and when we consider the magnitude of the evils arising from the interruption of public and private business, whereby the national interests are deeply affected, I think it my duty to invite the Legislature of the Union to examine the expediency of establishing suitable regulations in aid of the health laws of the respective States; for these being formed on the idea that contagious sickness may be communicated through the channels of commerce, there seems to be a necessity that Congress, who alone can regulate trade, should frame a system which, while it may tend to preserve the general health, may be compatible with the interests of commerce and the safety of the revenue."Congress seems to have taken these words to mean, that the 'relief of sick and disabled seamen' was to be expanded to include all officers, seamen and marines of the United States Navy. In February 1799, Congress passed 'An act in addition to "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen." This act directed that 20 cents per month be taken out of every officer, seamen and marine in the Navy and these men shall receive the same benefits and advantages as those mentioned in the original act. At the same time, Congress passed 'An act establishing Navy hospitals". This act allowed the monies collected from the seamen for the procurement and erection of hospitals.
Some people point to these acts as the first attempt of the Federal government to establish a National Health-care plan. First it established the Marine Hospital Service as an organization of Hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen both within the U.S. Navy and private industry. Secondly, these hospital services were paid for by a mandatory tax on the seamen at 20 cents per month, or about one percent of the sailor's wages. But, this was not an "individual mandate" requiring every citizen to purchase a product. Rather it was a tax on a certain class of people who chose to join the Merchant marine in a highly dangerous time on the seas. The focus was on the safety of the nation and the preservation of commerce, rather than on the health and welfare of individual citizens.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29440
Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity Confrontation, and Compromise by Philadelphia Robert, page 142
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Act_for_the_relief_of_sick_and_disabled_seamen
http://www.usphs.gov/aboutus/history.aspx
Laws Pertaining to the Public Health Service (Public Health Reports: Supplement) page 4
https://books.google.com/books?id=WSU-AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/01/17/congress-passes-socialized-medicine-and-mandates-health-insurance-in-1798/#6f4574f165cd
http://www.themainewire.com/2012/01/op-ed-sun-journal-editorial-board-dont-history/
No comments:
Post a Comment