Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Proof Health Care Was Affordable Before the Government Destroyed it Circa 1968
Vanity | June 25, 2009 | Sherri Dodsworth

Posted on 06/25/2009 6:41:22 PM PDT by caper gal 1

I’m old enough to remember when average people could go to their doctor and pay an easily affordable bill afterwards. People today don’t seem to believe this but I found a document among my mother’s papers recently when I emptied out her apartment and it is powerful ammo in the fight against this march to socialized health care rationing.

In 1968, just three short years after LBJ’s government got in the health care business, my father was attacked and beaten severely with a tire iron. He spent a week in ICU and had surgery to remove portions of his skull, and a second surgery to put plates in to replace those portions.

He worked as a maintenance man at a manufacturing plant, and my mother was a nurse. The document is a claim they filed against his attacker to be reimbursed for the medical expenses they had paid. The total bill for ambulance, two hospitalizations, surgeries and drugs? $1,168.52. They paid it out of pocket. They didn’t have health insurance. They didn’t need it because health care at that point was still market based. Adjusted for inflation to current dollars that bill would still be only $7,155.13, far less than you can rack up today in less than an hour in your local ER.

I have this doc saved as a .pdf doc but don't know how to post them here. If some one will let me know, I'll be MORE than glad to do so.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: healthcare
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-52 last
To: wideminded
That is so true. But the problem is not only due to government health programs like Medicare. Health insurance in general, particularly employer-paid health insurance has an inflationary effect by dampening price competition and price awareness.

....and yet in 1968, the time referenced, employer-paid health insurance had been around for decades.

41 posted on 06/25/2009 8:16:17 PM PDT by Roccus (The Capitol, the White House, the Court House...........America's Axis of Evil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1

I can remember insurance coverage offered from a job was strictly, “Major Medical” or “Hospitalization”. That’s when medical insurance was actually insurance for unforseen medical problems only.


42 posted on 06/25/2009 8:21:55 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (Spay or Neuter your liberal today!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1
If there's a way I can upload this .pdf doc to FR please let me know. It's dated September 1968.

Open a free account at http://box.net/, upload your file, share it, then post the shared link.

Here is a link to a PDF file that I have uploaded to my BOX.net account.

43 posted on 06/25/2009 8:22:29 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam is a religion of peace, and Muslims reserve the right to kill anyone who says otherwise.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RebelTXRose

It cost us $7 for my food and a fifth of liquor for the doctor when our son was born at Ft. Stewart Army Hospital in 1966.


44 posted on 06/25/2009 8:23:13 PM PDT by jch10
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1

What caused this dramatic increase in health care was government meddling. Medicare did it, when Medicare came into being docs started padding it, the first medicare didn’t have co-pay and everything was paid, soon medical cost were out of sight and everyone had to have insurance. I remember the days when virtually no one had it and could afford to pay out of pocket for care.


45 posted on 06/25/2009 8:26:06 PM PDT by calex59
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1
The problem with Medicare and medicaid is that old folks like me use a lot more medical services than younger people do. The system would be a lot cheaper if it kicked in at age 70, When Social security started in 1935, not a great many people lived much past 65. Now we have as many people older than 100 than we had people older than 75 in 1935. But one reason for this is that we use a lot of money to keep going, sort of like a car with 200,000 miles on it. The way to reduce this cost is obvious: limit care for the aged. However, we old folks are a formidable voting block and as the Boomers joins us, a huge one, bigger than, say. two-parent families.
46 posted on 06/25/2009 8:27:35 PM PDT by RobbyS (ECCE homo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Roccus

Medical costs went up for much the same reason that college tuitions have. When the government provides aid, administrators keep jacking up the prices.


47 posted on 06/25/2009 8:30:39 PM PDT by RobbyS (ECCE homo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1
The total bill for ambulance, two hospitalizations, surgeries and drugs? $1,168.52. They paid it out of pocket. They didn’t have health insurance. They didn’t need it because health care at that point was still market based. Adjusted for inflation to current dollars that bill would still be only $7,155.13, far less than you can rack up today in less than an hour in your local ER.

That same treatment today would hit WELL over $100K easily. Just a couple of days in ICU will run that.

I passed my first kidney stone a few months ago. Went to the hospital ER because I had no clue what this unbelievable pain was... After 3 hours, an IV for on pain med that lasted a couple of hours, and a CAT scan, I have received bills so far for over $6K, and they are not all in yet.

48 posted on 06/25/2009 8:37:22 PM PDT by TheBattman (Pray for our country...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RobbyS

I don’t disagree with that. I wasn’t talking about gov’t. health care.


49 posted on 06/25/2009 8:39:40 PM PDT by Roccus (The Capitol, the White House, the Court House...........America's Axis of Evil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1

NOOOOOOOOO! If doctors didn’t commit malpractice, they wouldn’t get sued. It is very difficult to sue a doctor or malpractice.

parsy, who notes even the babylonians could sue their doctor!


50 posted on 06/25/2009 9:46:58 PM PDT by parsifal ("Knock and ye shall receive!" (The Bible, somewhere.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1
Prior to 1968 you did not have an army of invading aliens getting “free” govt mandated medical care at the hospital.

So, ya, the FedGov started the screw job in 1968, the army of illegals have just added fuel to the burn....

SO - the FedGov IS the problem, not the solution.

Try and convince the average joe today about that....

51 posted on 06/25/2009 11:09:07 PM PDT by ASOC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: caper gal 1

A Fellow Freeper clued me in on how to share .pdf files so I can now share the copy of the medical expenses. Here’s a link to it:

http://www.box.net/shared/201xh28xea


52 posted on 06/26/2009 12:58:42 PM PDT by caper gal 1 (Who is John Galt?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-52 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson