The shipbuilder and the medical establishment – American Healthcare Chronicles

I recently started building products focused on healthcare affordability in the US. As I was ramping up on a new space, the biggest question that sparked my curiosity was: how did we get here? This question is the inspiration for this weekly series chronicling the decisions, accidents, and breakthroughs that built the US healthcare system. Henry Kaiser was a construction magnate who had invested in shipyards as the demand for ships rose with World War II. By 1942, his shipyards in Richmond, California were running around the clock. Workers poured in from across the country — 80,000 by the end of that year, over 200,000 at peak. Kaiser built housing for them, schools for their children, a credit union, and even a dedicated electric commuter train between the housing areas and the yards. Between his Richmond and Portland shipyards alone, his teams built 1,490 ships during the war. When he noticed too many workers missing shifts due to illness, he decided it was time to build a better…