The rise of health care costs began during World War II. Because of the large quantity of men drafted into the army to fight the war, employees were hard to come by. Normally, when employees are needed, potential employers will raise wages to attract them. However, this was war time, and the government had temporarily created restrictions, it was now illegal to raise wages. But how do employers attract potential employees without raising wages? The answer is simple, employers must offer something other than money with which to pay their employees. Something like healthcare. Once the employees had been hired, health care offered other benefits too. Health care was not taxable. An employer could pay $10,000 for an employee’s health care, or $10,000 in regular old money, which after state and federal taxes, turns into $7000. With the health care route, that is not only more money that benefits the employee, but is also one less thing that they need to worry about. However, because people were no longer paying for health care out of their pockets, they had no desire or need to shop around for the lowest prices. Their employers could not look into how the money was being spent, because that sort of thing is private. In addition, the American Medical Association stunted the growth of the medical industry. They severely limited the amount of professional doctors by only having a total of 19 certified medical schools. They also restricted the amount of hospitals across the US. Every time a hospital was planned to be built, the existing hospitals were given a poll on whether they thought there needed to be another hospital nearby. Naturally, the existing hospitals did not want any competition. Additionally, the US government created mandates that health care would cover x, y, and z, regardless of whether people wanted that coverage. Out of state insurance was also banned, causing a massive decrease in competition. Then, the affordable care act was passed. It required that health care be available regardless of pre existing conditions and that premiums not vary as much as they should, which is how health insurance companies ensure that nobody goes bankrupt.