1955 hospital bill goes viral for $60 cost of birth, 3-night stay
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Social media users are astounded by how much it cost to deliver a baby in 1955.
A redacted photo shared to Reddit is suggesting the cost of delivering a child and a three-night hospital stay in Belleville, Kansas was less than $60.
The post, which was originally shared to the Reddit Pics thread, a subreddit dedicated to sharing pictures and photographs, on June 26, is now gaining viral attention on external social media platforms.
"My medical school professor showed me this bill from his birth in 1955 (in the United States)," the Reddit user captioned their throwback photo.
The incredibly low-cost bill reportedly came from a Belleville Hospital and is dated Dec. 17, 1955.
According to the itemized bill, it allegedly included a three-day stay between Dec. 15 and Dec. 18 that year.
The room and board and nursing service section is marked as costing $27 while the delivery room is marked at $15, infant care at $6, drugs and medicine at $11.95.
Other sections of the bill were left blank, including the operating room, anesthetic, special nurse, special nurse board, dressings, glucose, urinalysis, blood examination, X-ray, basal metabolic rate (BMR), pathology exam, electrocardiogram (EKG) and oxygen and equipment - which left the Belleville Hospital account with a grand total of $59.95.
The 1955 bill would be equivalent to $610.69 in July 2021, according to the consumer price index inflation calculator from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Fox News reached out to a local hospital in Belleville, Kansas to inquire about the redacted bill, but did not immediately hear back.
A redacted photo shared to Reddit is suggesting the cost of delivering a child and a three-night hospital stay in Belleville, Kansas was less than $60. (iStock)
Commenters in the Reddit thread discussed the 66-year-old hospital bill at length. Hundreds of users shared personal stories about the hospital bills they've received to cover the delivery of their children.
"Haha my kid cost [$12,500], thank god for insurance…." One Redditor wrote.
"C-section here. $40k," another user commented.
"Just shy of $700k for me. 96 days in the NICU will do that though," another Reddit user wrote, noting that their health insurance covered most of the cost. "I have a happy, healthy 4 year old now though, so it was worth every penny."
Cortney Moore is a Digital Associate Writer/Producer for Fox Business.
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Shall I finish it off?
In that era of general good will and constantly expanding affluence few Americans questioned the exceptionalism of their society.
PS:
Somebody will show up to say it was no good because there was segregation in southern states.
Good points.
The list is endless. I do like the fact that somebody had an old bill after all these years.
too bad all relics of the past aren't as accurate and informative.
3 days for 27 bucks. Was she staying in the parking lot?
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Mine was $10.55, it's around here somewhere.
When I found it and showed my wife, she showed me hers from Los Angeles General Hospital was less than $4.00
10 years later her brother's birth bill was only $19.00
Just amazing.
I think over the years, the way hospital accounting works, in order to offset write offs,
they began to game the insurance companies to press the insurance companies for more and more.
You've certainly seen the approved portions of a bill, the copay and the balance that depending on many factors no one is responsible for, giving the insurance companies lucrative write offs.
My BIL ran up $350,000 in his final months, Medicare paid a fraction and we paid less than $2k.
It's an accounting game.
I decided to make an early arrival by two weeks. My mother happened to be visiting my father at a USMC supply facility when she went into labor. By the time medical help arrived, I was almost out. My dad got charged $5 for a ruined blanket. Considering where I was born, the family joke has been that I did not have a bd. I had a federal stock number.
One of mine was born at the Oakland Naval Hospital, you were probably lucky, lol.
I was surprised that they charged for certain incidentals.
And of course it was the end of the fiscal year so we had to donate our own supplies and diapers to the neonatal nursery unit.
Comments removed for meta.
Please Mistress, can 'we' have some more meta?
My two kids were delivered by C-section - fortunately they were born in Canada so it didn't cost anything.
You mean it was paid by Canadian citizens collectively.
And my son was delivered by c-section. I had great insurance, so it was paid for by subscribers collectively. Just a different way to collectivize costs.
I'm so glad to hear it.
Yes, on the basis of Canada's graduated tax system so that it doesn't hurt anyone financially, and NOBODY GOES BANKRUPT or do without needed healthcare because they can't afford it. Oh, I have to admit that vanity operations like nose jobs are not free, only necessary plastic surgery is covered (such as a person's face getting badly scarred in an accident), and there are wait times, but not for emergencies. I know that wealthier Canadians who don't want to wait in line for non-emergency operations sometimes go the the USA and pay out of their pocket, but procedures that are not available in Canada and are in the USA ARE paid for by Canada's health-care system. Maybe it isn't perfect, but then show me where in the world that it is.
Morning buzz..it is the same here as well all medical treatment in hospital is free..but you can pay private health insurance if want...All my treatment us completely free that includes MRI, scans and meds that would have cost $20,000 a month...
Nope would not like to get sick in the USA... What do they do in China??
I'm not entirely sure what what the situation is here, so I won't guess. I know that I did not get expat medical insurance because at my age the premiums would have been too high or else I might not have even qualified. I have had to pay for healthcare here out of my pocket, but it is much less expensive than in western countries, and the equipment is up-to-date and no waiting list for use of it.
I had a hospital experience about 12 years ago. I had to have a minor invasive surgical procedure but caught an infection which required me to stay for 12 days, and a return 3 day stay a month later. It was a modern hospital, and I was in the VIP suite of private bedroom, bathroom and living room. The total cost was the equivalent of about US$2000, but the school where I was teaching at the time reimbursed me the equivalent of US$500 (and did not dock my salary for missed teaching time). How would that compare in Australia if one had to pay cash?
Private health insurance for a single person is around $2,000 a year depending on what type of cover you want...There are 3 levels..the $2,000 is top cover..But if you go into a private hospital and if the scheduled fee is say $500 for an anesthetic but the the specialist charges you $600 you have to pay the $100 difference...On average it is a 6 week wait to get into a private hospital, public it could be months, but if it is an emergency you go straight in.
Public hospitals you could be put in a private room, twin room or 4 bed ward...Private hospitals you can still be shoved into a twin room regardless...Public hospitals are usually far better equipped and the most up to date equipment..While I was in St Vincent's (public) last year an Xray machine rolled up into the room..It walked itself along the passage and is controlled by remote...Was a bit spooky to be honest..They call him Xavier the Xray machine...
Ha! Completely off the topic of hospitals, but a chain supermarket in our area called Martin's has a robot that roams the store, spotting spills, knocked over items, etc. He is called Marty. Back at the beginning of Covid, the workers put a mask on Marty. I find him to be somewhere between creepy, amusing, and annoying. He always seems to be in my way.
Question: In a Canadian hospital does anyone get assigned to the hallway, should there not be enough rooms?
I don't know. I've never seen it happen. For two years I served on the Board of Directors of Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, and such a thing was never mentioned. Perhaps there was never such a disaster as would cause a huge number of injuries that would require such an accommodation.
I know somebody living in Montreal. He says it is fairly common.
Not in my in and out experience over the last 2 decades, and nor have any of the hospitals up here needed to convert their garages.
There is one little problem. His girl friend (a native Canadian) was one of those so assigned. She told me all about it. She had no problem with it. Another true believer in that system.
I would say your friend is wrong. I've spent time in 3 of Montreal's hospitals and have never seen patients relegated to hallways unless they are being transferred to another department for specialty treatment.
Guess who I believe?
As am I, I would be dead without it and my daughter would have nothing to inherit other than my library if even that.
That's easy, the 'witness' you want to. You're the last person I would care to see on a jury.
Back to hospitals and healthcare systems ... even the finest have their detractors, it's part of the landscape.
I'm sure of that.
That is a huge benefit. Not to belabor the points on the splendid decade - In those days doctors still made house calls!
Unfortunately, the busier doctors & hospitals become, the more special care suffers.
I have a personal doctor that I can call anytime and see regularly 4 times a year. Due to covid we Skype of late.
I have yet to meet one and I live in the wealthiest part of Montreal.
There are also people from America going to Mexico and India for far cheaper state of the art healthcare.
https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(18)30620-X/fulltext
Same thing here in Canada.
A private/family doctor is only as good as the specialists he or she knows and alas for many Americans those specialists who will accept the patient's specific health insurance carrier who will decide the extent of treatment the specialist can deliver.
If you think current inflation for certain necessities is outrageous, wait until insurance companies down there adjust for the ravages caused by Covid.
Well, since Hallux has lived in Canada for decades and I spent most of my life there you can believe whatever you want no matter if it's right or wrong.
Both clinics and private doctors and you can choose whoever you want to be your doctor.
You're going to love this, Vic...both my kids, born by C-Section, all was paid for by the...wait for it...MILITARY!!!!
YES!! That wonderful institution that shouldn't allow women paid for my surgeries and care because I wore a uniform.
Oh...and you paid for it.
20 years ago, a mild heart attack requiring a stent.
8 years ago, a triple bypass.
3 years ago a DVT in my right leg
2 years ago a subdural brain bleed caused by a buildup of Coumadin which led to head surgery, 2 weeks of induced coma in ICU, 2 weeks of hospital therapy and then 4 weeks of therapy in a rehab hospital ... dozens of specialists from start to end. There is a pic of me incubated on my page. I now take 4 medications twice daily that cost me $30 per month. Everyone and everything from start to end was 1st World Class except for the food (doh).
That's the best part!
I can walk, talk and bitch with 2 fingers on my keyboard ... life is grand!
It amazes me how many people want to go backwards to a time that truly did not exist. Prices were lower, but so were salaries. And most of those people longing for the 50s won't want to leave behind things like cell phones, the internet and cures for deadly diseases...BUT those times were idyllic cuz women vacuumed in heels & pearls and were the property of their fathers, then their husbands.... ALL was good in that time....
Had I gone through my maladies in the 50's I would have been dead well before the 60s ... the bright side to that would have been not having to endure Father Knows Best ... which he never did.