Health costs then and now

By Malcolm Telloian, North Las Vegas

Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Both parties in Washington are finding they are unable to come up with a viable health insurance plan because having health insurance itself is the problem.

Before President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society plan that started Medicare and Medicaid, we had little problem paying for health care. It was after these programs and others were introduced that costs began their upward spiral. Prior to that time, a lot of folks didn’t have health insurance because most employers didn’t offer it. It really wasn’t needed.

Case in point: From May 1955 to January 1962 we had four children and no insurance, but had no problem covering expenses. The hospital was $35 per day, the OBGYN was $250 for the entire nine months, including delivery, and the anesthesiologist was $80, and all took payments without interest.

To put things in perspective, during this period I earned $500 per month, we were able to buy a new three-bedroom, two-bath home in Los Angeles using my Veterans Affairs loan for $12,950 with $92-per-month payments, including taxes and insurance. A new car was around $3,000. Health care was still affordable. If a real medical disaster happened, family and friends all chipped in, as did the church. Besides, don’t we still see that today on TV where an account has been opened at a local bank to help pay for expenses for some needy person?

So why are costs so high now? Think about it. Who is paying for the billions of dollars it costs to run all these insurance companies and generate their billions in profits? Also, take into account that Medicare and Medicaid are supported by government workers with pensions and benefits, etc.

These are huge costs that must be considered because people are being ripped off big-time by over-paying for services and equipment. And we are paying for it all.

Until these facts are realized and addressed, I’m afraid things will only get worse.