“ Health Insurance” in 1920 NYC
One hundred years ago today … The Republican-led State Assembly voted down a bill that would have required companies to offer health insurance for workers, instead proposing to form an advisory committee that would study the issue of public health.
The Sun and New York Herald. 14 April, 1920, p. 6.
It may be that the GOP figured that disinfectant was health insurance enough.
Lysol advertisement in The New York Times, 16 August, 1920, p. 14.
Or maybe over-the-counter laxatives were supposed to do the trick.
The Daily News, 6 April, 1920, p. 10.
Just to highlight the above, Partola laxatives, “the doctor in candy form,” were sold as “a mighty good form of health insurance” by the Partola Manufacturing Company. In an unrelated development: on April 9, 1920, Partola had a case in the NY State Court of Appeals over a disputed shipment of soda powder. (See Reports of Cases Heard and Determined in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Volume 191. New York: Banks and Bros., 1920. p. 424–5.)