Because capitalism.
The USA suffers from historic levels of metabolic syndrome.
Processed foods, industrial engineered foods, sugar, and high levels of insulin… Are the modern plague
Sadly this disease is spreading
We also don’t know how to wash our hands properly.
You can get penicillin from the pet and feed stores. Just sayin’. Because I’m American and have to.
Because most of us can’t afford to get ANY care and our doctors never listen, or when they do listen, they aren’t allowed to provide care unless it makes someone a bunch of money. They make this all a game with our literal lives as the pawns.
Also because our health is already predisposed to being garbage compared to other countries thanks to our obesity crisis. Of course while that should be treated at the source like the UK is doing by e.g. not allowing junk food companies to advertize directly to kids, the healthcare system has a huge role to play in that too.
Need physical therapy? Get fucked. Can’t exercise because of a chronic, unhealed injury? Fucked. Mental health disorder keeping you from being active and eating well? Mega fucked. Eating disorder? Fucked. Quality of life destroyed by treatable obesity complications? Fucked. Can’t afford a variety of healthy foods because you’re trapped in medical debt? Fucked. Need medical intervention for weight loss? Fucked. Have a GI disorder and need to see a dietitian to plan a diet? Fucked.
Treating it at the source is absolutely crucial, but for people already caught in the whirlpool of obesity, privatized healthcare is categorically failing them.
Need physical therapy? Get fucked. Can’t exercise because of a chronic, unhealed injury? Fucked. Mental health disorder keeping you from being active and eating well? Mega fucked.
I’m in this comment multiple times and it’s as depressing as it sounds.
Also because our health is already predisposed to being garbage compared to other countries thanks to our obesity crisis. Of course while that should be treated at the source like the UK is doing by e.g. not allowing junk food companies to advertize directly to kids
The real source is car-dependency – i.e., bad zoning policy.
See also:
I haven’t been to a doctor in over twenty years now. For most of that time, either I didn’t have insurance or my insurance was so laughably bad and my wages so low that I couldn’t afford to use it. Now I’ve got a decent job and decent insurance, but the nearest doctor accepting patients is over 50 miles away.
Guess all I can do is cross my fingers and hope whatever kills me does it quick.
I hear there is a 9mm solution to this problem
I know that, like a lot of my fellow 'Muricans, I will try to avoid seeing a health care provider until I absolutely have to. Random inexplicable pain? Hopefully it gets better on its own in a few days.
Which I know is not at all smart, but 1. there are not enough doctors to go around and 2. the ones we do have are understandably burned out AF and 3. the insurance bullshit is brutal.
The insurance carriers make it very clear that you have done something wrong if you go see a health care provider.
“Insurance is for collecting premiums only”. They are the “no take, only throw” dog meme in real life.
I have reasonable insurance and the reason people “spend more time living with disease” is that the annual cost of not doing that is a couple of thousand.
The minute I hit a doctor for anything other than a cold, I expect it to cost me $1000, and if it turns out to be serious, I expect to spend out-of-pocket maxes, or $3000-5000.
So basically, the cost of ‘going to the doctor’ needs to be assumed to be at least $3000.
So uh, I don’t go for any actual issues unless I’m prepared to spend that much.
This system is fucking stupid and designed to both discourage you from visiting and when you finally break down and go, to empty your pockets.
…but hey, if you can find cooperative doctors, they’ll happily refer you to endless specialists and such so you can at least maximize the thousands of dollars you’ve spent? (This is still stupid.)
So basically, the cost of ‘going to the doctor’ needs to be assumed to be at least $3000.
And that’s after you’ve already paid multiple thousands of dollars per year in premiums (remember: you pay for the whole premium, including the “employer portion” which would’ve been extra salary if the employer didn’t have to pay it on your behalf).
This, for sure. Last year I had to get some x-rays and because they weren’t sure insurance would cover it, I saw something like $1600 USD out of pocket. Eventually I got $900 or so back, but it was months later. And this was on top of lab/blood work that only has limited coverage under preventative care, and often costs additional out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of dollars.
Oh and dental coverage being entirely separate, without full coverage, so I pay every few years between $600 and $800 for deep cleaning (periodontal disease, and that cost is with insurance).
And my CPAP stuff being terribly covered only through DMEs that upcharge for hardware and mask equipment to the point since 2017 I’ve paid out of pocket cash or via HSA to get what I need online because that’s cheaper and less hassle.
I can afford it these days and do the needful, but all this stuff is way more complicated and expensive than most can deal with.
They know how these porcesses work and they design each one to fuck us.
This is business 101, health insurance is just a tip of the iceberg.
At what point is it gonna be enough? Now or in 25 years?
Parasite jhave gotten away with this shot for at least a generation if not two… They are getting brazen.
The adjuster reminded us all that we are docile dogs according status quo.
And probably about to get even worst.
It’s far more profitable to treat the symptoms of chronic conditions instead of addressing the root causes
Yeah no shit, a lot of us can’t afford medical care.
Somebody (not on Lemmy) once tried to argue with me that the right to see a doctor is slavery of the doctor. It wasn’t a straw man argument as much as a stick lying in a field.
Seems perfectly logical to me.
