Hospital free - for 60 years (almost).

One Sunday morning in the spring of 1948 I was rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. I was released from the hospital the following Tuesday afternoon, went on a date that evening and was back in technical school Wednesday morning. Nothing remarkable about that.

What I believe to be remarkable was the fact that I was not again an overnight guest in any hospital until January 3rd, 2007. On New Year's Day I fainted while taking a shower and took a fall in a hard surface, ceramic tile shower stall. When I finally agreed to go to the hospital, the doctors were more concerned with the reason I fell than the damage incurred in the fall.

The care I was afforded at the hospital seemed first rate to me. Everyone was very polite and courteous and seemed genuinely concerned with my well-being. I was in a "private room" , that is to say, mine was the only bed in the room. It was not very "private" with people rushing in and out at all hours. I had a TV and telephone. I could call for help at any time. The few times I did press the button, the response was immediate. The very worst thing that happened was on my final morning. While eating breakfast, a very nice nurse came in and started asking questions about my condition. Specifically she wanted to know about bowel movements. I tried to answer, but finally had to ask if we could not wait until after breakfast to discuss that particular bodily function. She apologized and left the room.

I can no longer remember details of my 1948 hospital stay. But the shadowy memory I do have is pleasant. I do recall that in the operating room I was placed on a table, naked, with just a sheet to shield me from the view of a room full of nurses. About the time they decided to adminster the anasthesia, I decided I didn't like what was happening. I recall trying to sit up; impossible because I was strapped down. I woke up after the surgery.

I later dated one of the nurses. She refused to provide any details of the OR experience, except to admit that I was not very happy about the situation.

The biggest difference between the two hospitals must surely be the cost. In 1948, I was fresh out of the Army, living with my parents and attending school on the G.I. Bill. I certainly had no health insurance, and I have no idea whether or not my parents had health insurance for me. I do know that at the time, my father's salary was about $100. a week. My income was the $20 weekly sum the government paid veteran's for the first 52 weeks after discharge. We called it the 52-20 Club.

For my 2007 hospital stay, I did have insurance. I paid a $500 co-pay; the insurance company paid over $12,000. I do not yet know what they have paid the physicians who attended to me.

By January, 1952, I was married and on January 8th my wife gave birth to twin girls. The babies were premature. Their weights were 3 lbs 11 oz. and 2 lbs 6 oz. They stayed in the hospital for six weeks before we were permitted to bring them home.

My salary at the time was $160. a month. The total hospital bill was $600. That averaged less than $15 a day. My recent hospitilization cost closer to $4000 a day. That's more than 280 times as much.

Why the big difference? Is it the compensation paid the medical professionals? More people - higher paid? Is it all the high tech equipment every hospital must now own? How much of it goes to cover mal-practice insurance? Whatever the cause... who can fix this problem?