Judge Barrett claims her positions on healthcare cases before the Court would be guided by the "founders" wisdom. Health insurance didn't exist in the late 18th century. But the federal gov't did provide healthcare to some from the 1790s onward. Here is a brief explanation. https://twitter.com/wendellpotter/status/1316828069311647746

In 1798 Congress passed a law that deducted from 20 cents/mo. from sailors wages and used the fund to pay for medical care for "sick and disabled sailors." The Treasury Department supervised the collection, distribution, and expenditure of the funds. (1 Statutes at Large 605)

Why did the federal government provide medical care to sailors? They were considered crucial since they would carry commerce to and from the US. The Napoloeonic Wars also opened an opportunity for US commercial shipping to take advantage of.

Culturally the system was also predicated on a paternalistic attitude toward merchant mariners--the old stereotype of an irresponsible Jack Tar, supposedly incapable of saving for their own care. But the medical risks to sailors were all too real, especially injury and disease.

Over time the Marine Hospitals, as they came to be known, would grow to reach major and emerging coastal and riparian ports. Sometimes the federal government built hospitals for the program, and other times rented wards in existing hospitals. In smaller ports it hired doctors.

In the 19th century, tens of thousands of sailors would receive treatment in these "hospitals." Through the 20th century the number would grow much higher. Some of the actual hospitals are now landmarks, such as the one in Louisville, Kentucky http://marinehospital.org/index.htm 

The Marine Hospitals were noteworthy in the medical world because they were in some cases run by physicians who would become luminaries, such as Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse.

The Marine Hospitals continued to exist throughout the 19th and much of the 20th century as part of the Public Health Service. The Reagan administration finally brought an end to the system as part of budget cuts.

But the Marine Hospitals are an important example that the founding era was cognizant that governmental institutions and programs were needed to deal with medical risks and care that threatened an important part of the population.