Thank you, Dr Masterson, for your comment about the statement from my article: “Physicians’ fees have changed in the last half century too. The fee to perform an appendectomy for a perforated appendix was $150 in 1957, while today’s fee is $495.”

My point was to show that physicians’ fees have changed since 1957—not necessarily for better, worse, or indexed to inflation. In fact, if a $150 fee in 1957 were indexed to inflation, the fee would have been $495 in 1981! Your point is well taken.
—Gabrielle Lynch-Staunton, BFA, BEd