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States begin to propose laws supporting health insurance for workers.

1913

MED
HPI

The reformers who propose these laws cite tested examples of German social legislation. According to DiBacco (2017): "the proposals covered all medical costs for workers and their dependents earning less than the average annual income in each state (ranging from $800 to $1,200). The measures were to be funded by a payroll tax on employers and employees, with states picking up 20 percent of the cost."

While these laws are initially met without resistance from the American Medical Association (AMA), the U.S.' entry into WWI will eventually lead to attacks based in anti-German sentiment. The Los Angeles Times calls it a: "device borrowed from the imperial laws of Germany." The same anti-German sentiment will be used to defeat universal health care when Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes it decades later.