After 4 or 5 years there, he went to work in a grain mill- for $35 a WEEK with overtime available on top of that. In 1942 my parents bought a 118 acre farm for $9000.

And the bill in question was an unusually high hospital bill. Many of them did not make triple digits even for fairly serious ailments or injuries.

The same thing today, if I didn't have insurance, would probably wipe out my year's salary if not more.