Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Health Insurance - In 1798

Rick Ungar lays out a pretty compelling case in Forbes magazine that the Founding Fathers supported the individual mandate (a Republican idea at one time, lest we forget).

Ungar points out that in July of 1798, Congress passed "An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seaman," which was signed by President Adams. That law authorized the creation of a government operated system of marine hospitals and mandated that laboring merchant marine sailors pay a tax to support it.

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