1917

Passage of War Risk Insurance Act, which undid the Civil War pension system (act of 1862), via: (1) paying money to soldier’s dependents while soldier was away at war or after his death; (2)offering heavily discounted voluntary life & disability insurance to soldiers; & (3) instituting system of disability compensation on fixed rating schedule and mandating medical care and rehab services for all returning disabled soldiers: “Framers of the WRIA incentivized medical care and rehabilitation through law by suspending compensation payments to any disabled soldier who refused to undergo hospital care” (Linker, 29-33, quoted at 33). “In image and text, rehabilitation propaganda frequently used the Civil War pension system as a counterpoint to orthopedic reconstruction” (122). It was Worker’s Compensation legislation, on the books at the state level by 1917, that was the prototype for provision of medical benefits to vets; the federal government assumed responsibility as an employer of men in an extra hazardous occupation (Stevens III, 286-287).