Medical Inflation: A Case Study

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Since it’s my birthday, it’s an excuse to provide a one-document explanation for why healthcare costs have skyrocketed so much in the past 50 years. Here it is:

That’s the bill for my delivery. I cost $133.98. Adjusted for ordinary CPI inflation, that comes to $1,000 in current dollars. Today, an uncomplicated birth (which mine was — I was born at 8:02 pm, ninety minutes after my mother was admitted to the hospital) will run you upwards of $10,000. Add even a little bit of complication and it can easily rise to $20-30,000.

Why? Because doctors were paid fairly ordinary middle-class salaries in the 50s and there was essentially no technology involved in any of this. My mother says that her room in the hospital basically had a bed and a telephone. In the delivery room there were no epidurals, no beeping machines, no phalanx of specialists. Just piped in music, which played “Yellow Rose of Texas” while I was popping out.

We can go back to that any time we like. But I doubt there are any takers.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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