i just remember the early 60s . I shattered my left knee . I went to hospital , leg cast was put on and i laid in a bed for a week or so and ate and watched tv . About the same time my Mother had my youngest Sister . After delivery she stayed in bed for a week to rest up . Reason was that she had 4 kids at home so the rest would do her good . INSURANCE , i don't know . Dad paid out of pocket in both cases or had some kind of insurance . [i was about 11 years old]
It's still much cheaper if you're paying cash; they know if you're paying cash they aren't going to get away with charging you $3,000 for aspirins and crappy jello and fruit bowls and the like. My one two day emergency room visit in my entire life dropped from around $22,000 to $3,300, including the $800 ambulance charge, when it came time to check out and I told them how I was paying and wanted to go over all those itemized charges. lol