bobbyjohn Loc: Dallas, TX

The Cost of Medical Services – 1950s to Today

I was a young child in the 1950s, during which time we had a family doctor, a general practitioner by the name of Dr. Julius Westheimer (he had a German accent) whose office was an apartment on the bottom floor of a 3-story apartment building on Metropolitan Ave in Queens, NY. He had no nurse, no receptionist. And oh, BTW, he even signed my birth certificate.

Whenever we needed the doctor’s services for basic illnesses (like the flu, sore throat, etc.) our options were either to go to his office and the cost of the visit was $5.00 … or … he would drive to our house and the cost of that was $10.00. He’d have with him his little black bag of medical supplies, like thermometer, BP, syringes and associated injectable stuff, all of which were included in the basic charge. Sometimes he had a supply of the oral meds in his black bag to give us, other times, he’d have to write a prescription. We all survived. When is the last time you had a doctor who made house calls?

In those days, no medical insurance. But compare such out-of-pocket costs from the 1950s to the 2020s … I’d gladly go back to the way doctors and hospitals charged in those days.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

You'd have to accept the salaries in those days also......

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

We had medical insurance. Blue Cross.

In 1954 my mother went in for a hysterectomy. I have the invoice. Not only was the cost unbelieveably low, the insurance covered it completely. The total for an 8 day hospital stay with surgery was $0.50 (the insurance didn't pay for the telephone in the room).

The insurance came through my father's employer. I don't have a handle on how much he contributed to the cost. I was not in charge of anything financial back then.

(Download)

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

Compare the cost for two going out for Sunday Breakfast --
1967: Less than $5.00 - This morning $32.00 & that was with the Sr. discount -- Note: Did not include tip

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

About 1964 i bought a new car for $2000.

About 1973 I bought a house (old) for $30K.

I managed to avoid paying more than $30K for anything until 2017 when I bought a newer house.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

In her book "An American Sickness" author Elisabeth Rosenthal lays out why the system has spiraled into the horror show we experience today...it's worth a read.

cdayton

All these comparisons are meaningless without adjusting for inflation. I bought a nice 3 bedroom split level on a corner lot for $19.2K in 1963 but $6-7K was a decent income at that time. Then I bought a new Jag XKE roadster in 1968 for $5900 - should have kept it.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

My first house cost 1.25 times the family annual income (6BR, 2BA).
My second house cost about twice the family income (4BR, 1.5BA).
My third house cost about 3 times the family income (4BR, 2BA).
During that time the family annual income went up also, so the total went up by about a factor of 10.

Beyond that the houses don't compare but they continue to go up.

rdemarco52 Loc: Wantagh, NY

I remember those days well, in Brooklyn, in the fifties.

Dannj

My experience was similar. Our family doctor made house calls but we had to wait until his office hours were over so at times he didn’t arrive until 9 or 10 PM…and he climbed five flights of stairs to get to us!

Burtzy Loc: Bronx N.Y. & Simi Valley, CA

Medical costs today have skyrocketed because of a litany of reasons...equipment costs, salary increases, hospitals becoming major profit centers...but biggest reason is resistance to single payer health insurance. Insurance companies negotiate terms that no single person can get and their premiums are sky high.

bobups Loc: Bath pa

Don’t forget law suits

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

It's mostly relative, Bobby John. In the early 50's I worked for $.25 -$.50 an hour. Gas sold for less than $.25 a gallon. A house call by a doctor was $3-$5. The admission to the movies was $.25. In the afternoon on Sat, for kids, admission was $.09. I began my teaching career in 1960. My first year's salary was $3300. In 1959, we bought a brand new PV544 Volvo for $2500. Prices are always relative to the existing economy.
Mark

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

That was the entire point of my posting

bobups Loc: Bath pa

My parents had twins in 1956 1200.00 cash