Maybe all you wise FrontBurnervians already knew this, but I’m reading this morning that the first health insurance plan in the country originated right here in Dallas, at Baylor University Medical Center:
For its beginnings we need to go back to 1929 to a man named Justin Ford Kimball when he became vice president of Baylor University in Dallas, Texas. He was an experienced administrator, as he headed the College of Medicine, School of Nursing, College of Dentistry, and the university hospital.
Soon after taking the job, he developed a health plan that guaranteed teachers 21 days of hospital care for 50 cents a month. The plan soon spread to other employee groups in Dallas, and then similar plans began to crop up nation-wide.
Yes, that Justin F. Kimball. And I read about it on two different websites, so come on, it’s got to be true, right? Maybe Dallas is the best place to figure out a new model of health care.