Historical Hospital Invoices Reveal The Lower Costs Of Giving Birth In The Past
Sorting through old documents can be quite a task, but it also offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of our parents and grandparents. Items like grocery lists, military records, and scrapbooks serve as windows into the past. Recently, a trend on social media has highlighted a particularly intriguing aspect: people are sharing old hospital bills from when their parents or grandparents were born, and the costs are astonishingly low.
Today, childbirth can be incredibly expensive, with hospital fees often reaching thousands of dollars and unexpected costs cropping up. For instance, in 2016, a couple in Utah was billed $40 simply to hold their newborn son after a cesarean section.
In contrast, looking back at previous decades reveals much simpler and cheaper hospital bills. For example, a bill from the 1950s shows a total cost of $10.75 for several days in the hospital, including oxygen and an incubator. Adjusted for inflation, this would be approximately $101.96 today.
Source: Instagram
A 1961 bill for a cesarean section delivery amounted to just $80.75 for a nine-day hospital stay, which included a $4.60 charge for a room with a phone. The pre-insurance cost was $418.85, equivalent to $3,552.86 today. For comparison, a new car in 1961 cost around $2,850.
Source: Reddit
Another example from 1947 shows a bill of $54.00 for a four-day stay. Adjusted for inflation, this would be $634.88 in 2019. At that time, a men’s Bulova watch cost $52.50, making the hospital bill slightly more expensive.
By 1968, a five-day hospital stay cost $406.80, which would be $3,015.52 today. In comparison, a new refrigerator in 1968 was about $200.
A 1936 bill from a commenter’s grandparents was $36.00, which they paid off at 50 cents per week, totaling $659.42 in today’s dollars.
In 1954, a North Dakota couple was charged $99.84, including a $2 fee for x-ray services. Adjusted for inflation, this would be $938.18 today. At that time, a manufacturing job earned roughly $71.86 per week or more.
Another Reddit user shared a 1955 bill for a five-day hospital stay, totaling $87.65, which is equivalent to $829.81 today. Average monthly rent in that year was around $87.00.
In stark contrast, a commenter mentioned their wife’s recent seven-day hospital stay for childbirth cost an eye-watering $112,000.
This comparison raises an interesting question: if the cost of having a child today were as high as it is now, would people from the past have been able to afford to have children at all?