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Medical Bills From The 20th Century Compared With Prices Today

The insane healthcare costs in the US have a solid record in shocking the rest of the world. The killer bills are what a staggering 83% of Americans, regardless of their income, said make quality medical care virtually unaffordable in this Pew Center research.

Moreover, almost half, or 41%, of working-age Americans, regardless of their income, are struggling to pay off their medical bills and have accumulated debt over time, showed this research. So if there’s an American horror story people are honestly dreading, it must be the healthcare costs.

And in order to put this insanity in a different perspective, people are sharing medical bills and receipts from the past that are so cheap they genuinely look unreal. From a $7.50 X-ray bill from 1950 to a $4.85 delivery bill from 1947, the records reveal how prices were before taking a fatal turn less than a century ago.

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#1 My Great Grandma's Medical Bill From 1950

#2 My Grandma’s Hospital Bill After Giving Birth To My Dad In 1955

#3 1947 Hospital Bill Found Out My Parents’ Attic. Not Sure Who It’s For

It's no surprise that Americans spend a huge amount of money on healthcare each year. High insurance premiums, high deductibles, copays, and other out-of-pocket expenses are just some of the costs associated with health and wellness in the country.

According to Investopedia, one of the most apparent reasons when it comes to ever-rising healthcare costs is government policy. Since the inception of Medicare and Medicaid—programs that help people without health insurance—providers have been able to increase medical prices.

#4 Hospital Bill From When My Grandpa Blew Up A Stump With Homemade TNT And Lost His Eye

#5 My Grandmama Just Passed Away And We Found The Hospital Bill Of When She Had My Aunt In 1957. Insurance Paid $100 So They Ended Up Paying $2.95 For Having A Baby

#6 The Hospital Bill From My Dad's Birth In 1955. (Note The 5 Day Hospital Stay)

Another crucial reason is inflation as it’s no secret that healthcare prices have soared exponentially in the US over the last several decades. A joint study from Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showed that healthcare spending in the country rose nearly a trillion dollars between 2009 and 2019, when adjusted for inflation.

The study also showed that during 2019, healthcare spending was nearly $3.8 trillion ($11,582 per person), but it will climb to a whopping $6.2 trillion ($18,000 per person) by 2028.

#7 I Found This Hospital Bill Sent To My Great-Aunt For The Birth Of Her Child In 1939 (US)

#8 My Medical School Professor Showed Me This Bill From His Birth In 1955 (In The United States).

#9 This Medical Bill From 1947

Today, two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy cite medical issues as a key contributor to their financial downfall. A recent study reported that 66.5% of all bankruptcies were directly tied to medical issues, because of either high costs for care or time out of work. An estimated 530,000 families turn to bankruptcy each year because of medical issues and bills, which for many seems like a worst-case scenario.

“Despite gains in coverage and access to care from the ACA, our findings suggest that it did not change the proportion of bankruptcies with medical causes,” stated the co-author David U. Himmelstein, commenting on the study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

“Unless you’re Jeff Bezos, people don’t have very good alternatives, because the insurance that is available and affordable to people, or that most people’s employers provide them, is not adequate protection if you’re sick,” he added.

#10 I Came Across This While Going Through Some Of My Grandmother's Things That I Had In Storage And Thought It Was Worth Sharing

My grandparents were from Liberty borough this is the bill from when my mom Carol Davies was born in 1943.

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#11 This 1933 Hospital Bill For A 7 Day Hospital Stay And Delivery

#12 My Grandma's 1951 Hospital Bill For Maternity Services. Grand Total For One Live Infant Birth - $50

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#13 The Hospital Bill For My Birth On 1-18-1958 . Note The Insurance Info Is In Red

#14 Happy 72nd Birthday Mom! Here’s The $65 Minneapolis Hospital Bill For A Week’s Stay.

#15 Old Medical Bill

#16 In 1948, A 2 Day Hospital Stay Cost Less Than 30 Bucks

#17 This Medical Bill From 1914 For $13.87.

#18 Hospital Bill From My Grandpas Birth Circa 1929

#19 1948 Hospital Bill...

#20 Grandpa's Hospital Bill From 1944

#21 Medical Bill From The 50s

#22 Here’s The Bill For The Birth Of My Dad Back In 1947 In Rural Wisconsin (Mondovi, Wi, Just Outside Of Eau Claire). 10 Days In The Hospital Seems Fairly Normal For Back Then

#23 Hospital Bill I Could In The Garbage At Work. From The 1940s

#24 This Receipt For The Hospital Bill Charged To My Great Grandmother When She Had My Grandfather In 1930, Total Cost Was $38

#25 How Much It Cost To Be Born In 1946

#26 Medical Bill From 1977 (US)

#27 Hospital Bill For Child Birth In 1955

#28 Hospital Bill From 1939

#29 The Total Cost For My Birth In 1971 In Virginia. $350.25

#30 Bill For Baby Delivery And 8-Day Hospital Stay In 1932

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