CLINTON — The cost to deliver a baby in the U.S. runs from $25,000 to $50,000, according to Parents magazine.  Insurance companies generally cover 50-80 percent of the cost.  But, what if the final bill to bring your newborn into the world was a grand total of less than $21?

Merlene Clifton’s parents handed over $20.90 to pay their entire hospital bill for their daughter’s birth.  Of course …that was nearly 80 years ago.

Merlene is about to have a birthday toward the end of May, and she recently happened to come across the hospital bill from her delivery at Dr. John Warner Hospital in May 1939.  Merlene marveled at what a pittance the hospital charged compared to such costs these days.

She examined the bill and was astonished at the individual charges.

“Taking care of a baby for a week: $3.50,” she noted.

Merlene recalled other interesting dealings with hospitals.

When her son suffered from T-cell leukemia, the St. Louis hospital where he was treated attempted to refund her money, but she refused to accept it.  She finally gave in, but she opened a saving account, deposited the money and never touched it.

“Over two years later, they decided the money was theirs after all,” she said.  “It was a good thing I didn’t spend it.”

Merlene credits her father Mearl for her strong sense of honestly.  

“I got caught stealing a Snickers bar when I was a little girl,” she said.  “But it was down low, daddy,” she told her father, she recalled.

The clerk was willing to let Merlene off, but her father said “no.”

Her father farmed for C.H. Moore in the area near Little Galilee on land his father also had farmed.

“I’ve had people ask me why I would save such a thing,” looking at the delivery bill.  “And I say, ‘well, just look at it, that says it all’,” she said.

Clearly, it’s an amazing little document, and historical from a local point of view.

The total cost for Merlene’s delivery actually was $30.90, but her father already had a $10 credit.