How American Health Care Killed My Father
Like every grieving family member, I looked for someone to blame for my father’s death. But my dad’s doctors weren’t incompetent—on the contrary, his hospital physicians were smart, thoughtful, and hard-working. Nor is he dead because of indifferent nursing—without exception, his nurses were dedicated and compassionate. Nor from financial limitations—he was a Medicare patient, and the issue of expense was never once raised. There were no greedy ... Full Story »
Posted by Walter Cox
Recently a childhood friend shared an invoice he found among his father's effects. In 1953, as a boy of 6, he had been struck by a car, which led to an ambulance ride, x-rays, anesthesia, surgery, a weeklong stay in the hospital and rehabilitative therapy. Astonishingly, the total bill for these services was about $500. Even allowing for inflation (approximately 1,500% since then), could we possibly imagine a total bill of $7,500 for similar services in 2009 dollars? A major difference, which many of us have forgotten about, is that most Americans did not have medical insurance in 1953; they paid for medical care out of pocket. The author makes a convincing case that shifting our method of payment to insurance companies and government programs has been an important, hidden factor in the unprecedented explosion of medical costs during the past half century.