3,600 year-old scrolls show principles of state-led healthcare at play in ancient Egypt

3,600-year-old scrolls show principles of state-led healthcare at play in ancient Egypt: Egyptian papyri texts dating back between 3,100 and 3,600 years, discovered in 2015, show that the precursor to universal healthcare may have originated in ancient Egypt, the Financial Times reports. The scrolls showed that workers in Deir El Medina who crafted tombs for royalty in the Valley of the Kings received paid sick days, were provided with a kind of company doctor who was paid by the state, and were occasionally the recipients of state-rationed medication. While it doesn’t exactly constitute universal healthcare, it nevertheless shows a progressive and pragmatic approach to keeping workers healthy.