I know medical care was far less expensive before the days of widespread health insurance. When I was born in 1964 the cost of my birth and hospital stay was less than 2 weeks pay for my dad on a garbageman’s salary (right around $85)
On the other hand, insurance was cheaper for those who had it.
I would throw the insurance industry wide open to competition. People should be able to pay for their precise insurance needs. For instance my teeth and general health are good so I shouldn’t have to pay to insure for those things right now. On the other hand my eyes are going to crap and I have some pretty severe joint issues. While I can’t afford to pay for the whole package, I can afford to insure for my immediate needs.
I was born in 1963; my mother was in her forties at the time, so I was a Caesarean baby.
Some years ago, my husband and I were going through an old steamer trunk that belonged to my dad, and we came across the receipt for the anesthesiologist’s bill....it was $43.
Those were the days when your insurance man came to your house and sold you the policy you picked out for yourself. That $43 was the uninsured price; my parents thought no kids were in the picture by that time, so they didn’t include pregnancy coverage, LOL.