Monday, October 18, 2010

Health Care in a Different Era


As I was sorting through a few boxes of old pictures, letters and other things, I came across an old bill from the U of A Hospital. It was remarkable to see that my Dad put down cash for the surgery and associated services. What was even more remarkable is how little it cost in those days. If I am reading this bill correctly, my Dad paid $25 up front and received change!

I believe this surgery was for a collapsed lung that my Mom suffered in 1948 when she was not quite 24 years old. I'm sure she was in the hospital longer than this bill indicates, so it may be that this invoice only deals with details of the operation.

If any of my family are reading this, I'd love to hear more about this. Regardless, I thought this bill was an interesting historical snapshot.

It's amazing the things my Mom kept.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow...I can't believe this is still in existence! I think Mom was in the hospital in Duchess for a couple of months, at least, recuperating.
And I wonder how long it took to make $9 then. I suspect a few days, anyway.
TC
Irene

Anonymous said...

Wow - that's something else. I love the line of "in account with...Husband resp...."!

The way I understand it though your dad would have still owed $2.75 rather than had change. :)

Still small in comparison to today's medical bills though!

Leanne

Terry said...

Yes, Leanne, that's the correct reading. It's just been so long since I've seen an invoice like this.

It was a different world back then at a lot of levels!