And Gary Bender, who came into this world for $70?

He told me that last year, the cost of the health insurance he and his employer sign up for, covering him and his wife, was in excess of $18,000 -- and that was before a single visit to a physician, and before a single prescription was filled.

"It just astonishes me that in our lifetime, we have seen such extremes in medical costs," said Bender, who was one of more than 3.8 million American babies born in 1947.

And who -- with that old hospital bill still in hand -- lived to tell the tale.

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