re: How did old people access healthcare before Medicare?

Kind of like families don't need or deserve to inherit...right?

They usually died before the age of 65.

My thought is they died earlier. And watching my parents age, I am not sure this was not better. We are keeping dementia patients and people with extremely poor quality of life alive with interventions that are not really in their best interests. My husband (a physician) advised against an intervention for a 92 yr old dementia patient in a home, convinced the family and was overruled by the primary care doc. He said okay, find someone else to do it. Also, as families we need to be ready to let go when the time comes.

When I was a kid my mom brought me to the doctors office or, if I was really sick, he came to the house after closing hours. They paid him cash. Usually about 20 bucks. If it was surgery, like taking my tonsils out, then we were covered with insurance from my dad's employer.. Texaco. I don't know what our co-pay was.