Show Insurance Companies Paid 2 Billion To Hospitals Insurance companies paid out a total of in 1964 to insured persons to help them pay their hospital bills the Health Insurance Institute reports THAT FIGURE the institute said represents an average of 64 million a day The companies companies' companies com com- panics panics' payments were made under hospital expense policies and under the portion of major medical expense m s a which provide for hospital charges These benefits helped pay for hospital charges for room and board drugs and medicines medicines medi medi- cines laboratory services X X- X rays routine nursing operating operating operate ing room and other hospital services INCLUDING health insurance insurance insure ance payments for other than hospital care insurance companies com corn panics last year distributed total total to to- tal benefits of nearly 47 billion billion bil bil- bil lion a per cent climb over 1963 For over two decades there has been continuous growth in inthe inthe inthe the amount of hospital expense benefits paid by all insuring organizations which in addition addi addi- tion Lion to to- Insurance companies include Blue Cross Blue Shield end and d similar health care plans 11 This s growth stated the Institute tute can be shown by an analysis analysis anal anal- ysis of hospital benefits paid during 1953 and 1963 the last year for which data from all insuring o 0 n s are available IN 1953 all insuring organizations organizations combined paid a total of in hospital ex ex- pense pease benefits The figu r e climbed t to in 1963 for an increase of per cent according to the Institute Over the same 1963 1953 period per iod lod the amount of hospital expense expense expense ex ex- pense benefits paid out by insurance insurance in in- companies alone rose from to an increase of per cent said the Institute Hospital expense ex ex- pense pease benefits paid by Blue Cross Blue Shield and all other other oth oth- oth er health care plans rose over this span from to a boost of per cent |