Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The Thirteen Dollar Baby Boy (June 7, 2016)




To borrow a famous quote from Prissy (actress Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen) in Gone with the Wind, "I [didn't] know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies" in 1955 until I came across the Wesson Maternity Hospital bill shown above . . . and interviewed my mother about it.

I have two younger brothers and one of them was born on October 30, 1955 in Springfield, Massachusetts at the Wesson Maternity Hospital. At the time, my parents, my sister, and I were living in nearby Holyoke, Massachusetts at 4 Glenn Street.  My father was the Assistant Manager at the Holyoke Sears Roebuck store and my mother was an R.N. who worked part time at the Holyoke Hospital.

My mother recently explained that when she went in to the Wesson Maternity Hospital for the birth of my brother, the delivery went so smoothly that by the third day of her "confinement" she was bored  and was up and about making beds, etc. when she was not given time with her newborn baby. She felt she was ready to go home to her husband and her other two children who were 3 1/2 and 2 1/3 years old.  She signed herself out of the hospital and as result was given two days credit at the daily room charge of $15.00. The usual stay at Wesson Maternity Hospital in 1955 was 5 to 6 days. My mother checked in on October 30th and signed herself out on November 3rd.  

As amazing as it seems to those of us who have had to pay for a birth at a hospital in the last few decades, the total bill to my parents for the delivery of my brother in 1955 was $180.18! This covered the room charge, use of the delivery room, anesthesia and the services of an Anesthetist, baby care, lab work, and drugs. From these charges, my parents were given two days of credit (-$30.00) for an unused room and $12.00 credit for unused baby care  -- a total credit of $42.00.  The health insurance that my parents had paid $125.00 and so my parents paid a net total of $13.18 [1] for my brother!

Until the discovery of this documented fact, I never knew getting a brother was so cheap! 

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[1]   The relative value of $180.18 in 1955 dollars would be about $1,590.00 in 2016. The relative value of $13.18 in 1955 dollars would be about $117.00 in 2016. See, https://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/?redirurl=calculators/ppowerus/

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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew
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5 comments:

  1. What a fun find, John. Isn't it amazing how costs have increased from 60 years ago!? I don't think you could get a brother so cheaply these days.

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    1. You are correct that getting a brother is much more expensive these days. The brother who cost $13.18 in 1955 is now a grandfather of two. His granddaughter got a baby brother a little over a year ago and I'll have to ask if they know how much her brother cost compared to mine. :-)

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  2. My father was a packrat, and when he passed away we found the bills for my sister's and my own delivery charges at Beverly Hospital in Massachusetts. My Mom was also an RN, so with insurance and with something deducted called "professional courtesy" our bills were just as cheap as your brother's charges. Times have changed, haven't they?

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    1. They certainly have changed. Without insurance and such discounts as you described, I shudder to think what having a baby would cost today. One up side is the fact that there is no longer the "lying in" period of 5 or more days unless there are complications in the delivery or the health of the baby/mother.

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  3. Glad I saved this post to read when it's a hot day and there is nothing else to do, chuckle. Thanks.

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