Healthcare is expensive, but it's cheaper than medical care.

Healthcare is expensive, but it's still cheaper than medical care.

I spent a fortune last year on cold pressed juices alone, not to mention the pasture raised eggs and farm market produce. (We are very fortunate here. We live within ten minutes of a dozen very good farm markets.) I like good bee pollen, honey and coffee. I rarely drink. I don't drug. I dedicate, at least, an hour a day to my healthcare; weather that's a run, a ruck, weights, BJJ or yoga, I put the time in.

I don't need to miraculously get out of a wheelchair to enjoys walks and runs and rucks. I don't need to survive cancer to clean up my diet. I don't need to get hit to know that I don't want to be down range. I'm fifty six. I'm watching my compatriots fall apart. I don't know another guy that graduated from high school with me who can still do a hundred push ups or run a few eight minute miles. They're all misshapen and in generally poor condition.

I can't help but wonder just how much of the medical care in the US is in response to a lack of healthcare. Gluttony and torpor are epidemic in the US. Drug and alcohol abuse, poor diets and a culture that values things over people are major killers here. Here, in the US, where the best foods are readily available year round, hundreds of millions of people make a lifestyle out of abusing themselves with unhealthy food until they have diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

This is the part that is going to get the most response. I don't carry medical insurance on myself. I haven't since 2012. I've saved over $64,000. I have some money set aside for medical care if need be, and I have had to tap into it over the years for some stitches and an outpatient repair. None of the expenses that I've incurred over the last eight years exceeded what would have been my deductible.

I know. I know. Just like the old song goes, "For all we do, it won't another minute for our bodies buy." But as for me, I'm going to push it off for a while more. Besides, I'd rather put my time (which isn't worthless) and my money into healthcare rather than insuring that I get any and all of the medical care that most people need sooner rather than later.

 

That I why medical care should be in the hands of the government

See the government HATES spending money on things that wont get them in the papers - which is why they LOVE building stadiums etc

If it has to spend its money on medical care for the citizens then suddenly all sorts of health care initiatives are on the table

 

You can be super healthy and out of the blue you get gallbladder stones. Do you know how much the surgery is? $35,000 (my wife had it). You will pay similar price for appendicitis.
Cancer treatments start with hundreds of thousands. And you can be very healthy and get cancer.

I’ve known a guy - fairly OK health wise, he was a truck driver. No health insurance. He was driving with some pain in his gut. He tolerated pain until he could not take it anymore. He was in coma for a month and after doctors were done with his treatment he could not poop anymore - he has a poop bag for life now. Guess what - if he had insurance and went to a doctor right away, he wouldn’t be in coma for a month and wouldn’t be using a poop bag.

Not having health insurance is beyond stupid. Get a high deductible (cheap) insurance - at least you will have some insurance to cover you if you ever need a real surgery.

 

That's a seriously interesting point, but it's not such an important thing that it should be imposed upon people by force, not even by force of law. It's important, but it's not that important.

 

You're right, but there's lots of things that people do with their health that are "beyond stupid".
Don't let medical insurance give you any ease at all with what you see in that mirror.

 

What “force”?

Okay, an example

We have a serious syphilis outbreak among indigenous communities. Sex is viewed very differently amongst traditional indigenous cultures since it was not linked to procreation.

So, we put on more health workers and started advertising. We used culturally appropriate messaging eg “stay young deadly and free”. “Deadly” meaning good, brilliant, the best. In some communities we set up initiatives such as a “condom tree” where free condoms can be obtained.

https://youngdeadlyfree.org.au/resources/animations/



Because the government is behind this we can use a multipronged strategy

 

This kind of treatment is cheap in the US.

 

If you have a problem with healthcare, go to Mexico to get it. Far cheaper.

 

I don't have coverage. Never have. People think health insurance is a health plan. It's not. The reason it's so damn expensive is because people think it is and every snot-nosed illegal takes up space at the emergency room.

I have no idea how much money I've saved but I do know I made my first million investing money that would have otherwise been spent on health insurance.

I don't know if I'll every have it. I know I will never waste money on life insurance.

 

Sorry, Boris, but having 1 million rubles doesn’t make you a millionaire here.
And Russia has universal healthcare. They’ll probably kill you while treating you, but you can at least see a doctor when you have some minor crap like flu.

 

You and the other Ukie aren't too bright are you? I'm not an imported wannabe like you, I was born in God's Country, AKA Texas. And you really don't want to know how many Hryvnias I have. Ukies are always picking fights they can't win. Hell, they can't even beat a few rebels.

 

I think we overstate niche harms compared to common harms like fast food, HFCS, driving, drinking, etc.

I think it's a function of the public at large liking a given risky behaviour and lobbying for its legality/lack of regulation, whereas when only 1% of people like a risky behaviour, ecig vaping for instance - the people have no defense from the natural pressure of the bureaucracy and ratchet effect.

 

I much prefer this method, but only when they are giving people information they are unlikely to have.

"Don't murder people. Murder is bad. If you are considering murder, just don't do it. - message authorized by the Australian Government, Canberra." is too far.

Also, these ads should look more like an information sheet than a fine tuned piece of marketing propaganda.

It is not the government's job to shape my opinion with subtle marketing techniques. It is up to the people to shape the position of government.

If they want to make new facts known to me in an impartial, proportionate matter then so be it. Otherwiae I'm opposed.

 

I think that those are very noble intentions, but they're not so good as to be imposed upon people by force, not even by force of law.

Let me be clear. Absolutely everything done by government is done by force of law.
Government is the legal use of force. Government has a 100% compulsory nature.
Force between people is sometimes called for; I get that. I reserve the use of force, even the legal use of force, only in response to force. There is nothing that I can think of that is so good that it should be imposed upon others by force, not even by force of law.

Your intentions are good and noble, but they are not the best or most noble goals. There are better things addressing more important things, and I don't think that any of them should be compulsory either. In my humble opinion, the best idea, the most noble goal, is to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I would NEVER want to see that done by force, not even by force of law.

Much of what government tries to do by force of law simply cannot be done by force at all because they have completely voluntary natures. Charity, for example, has a completely voluntary nature. Government has a completely compulsory nature. Government cannot conduct charity. There is no such a thing as compulsory-charity.

 

How much less expensive would our medical care be if we didn't have to pay for those who have abdicated their healthcare?

I can afford MY medical care. I can't afford to pay for the average fat ass American's though.
I can't afford their torpor. I can't afford their gluttony. What I can do is outlive enough of them before I need medical care. The next generation looks like their going to take better care of themselves. I expect the cost of medical care will adjust accordingly just in time.

 

Dude, you're a fool.

All the bee pollen in the world isn't going to stitch you back together if you get into a simple car wreck.

Sh!t happens. Sh!t happens all the time. Your "medical care" doesn't make you bulletproof, and you're always, every second, just one little infection, injury, affliction, etc... away from ruinous medical debt hung around your neck like a millstone for the rest of your life.

Best of luck and health to you, but you're gambling in a very, very dangerous game of chance right now.

 

And as a result, likely hung on the rest of us to pay his bills.

 

WOW! I really, really don't see it like that. I don't even think like that. I take no trepidation from the illegality of a thing nor any consolation from its legality. For me, legal and illegal are no good measure of right and wrong, or good and evil.

 

You're absolutely correct. Any of the things that you cite above, and many more, could happen.
But what IS happening to you? Falling looks a lot like flying for a while. How's your health?
Please, don't take any comfort from your medical insurance when it comes to your healthcare.
Medical insurance does absolutely nothing to alleviate one from their healthcare.

Would you put more time and money into your healthcare if you didn't have medical insurance?
If you had to choose between the two, would you put your time and money into medical insurance or healthcare?

It isn't how old you are when you die that really matters. It's how young you are when you get old that matters. Almost all of the men my age are already starting to get old. Their need for medical care is almost universally due to a long term lack of healthcare. Ironically, they think that they made the right choice to sacrifice their healthcare and put that time and money into medical insurance. They not only insured their access to medical care, they ensured their need for it.

 

We're millions of dollars away from that prospect.

 

Healthwise, I'm doing pretty good for a 52 year old. I hiked and biked nearly 100 miles through Yosemite two weeks ago.



I run half marathons and shorter triathlons n stuff. I've taken good care of myself, but, you get old, and parts start to wear out. All the pasture raised eggs in the world aren't going to magically restore the cartilage in my knee, and I recently needed to have a doctor stick a scope in there and see what's causing all the ruckus. That sort of stuff ain't cheap, and, without insurance, it'd be ruinously expensive.

I get what you're saying about the lazy butts running up the medical expenses, but it is what it is, and all the work you're doing on your "preventative medical care" isn't making you Superman.

It's not an either/or question. You need both preventative medical care, and healthcare insurance.

You need to have basic catastrophic health insurance at the very least, otherwise it just may be YOU that's saddling society with massive healthcare expenses, right along with the weight of all the lardass burdens that you hold in such contempt.

 

No, with you uninsured, we're one little injury, infection, affliction, etc... away from that prospect.

 

But is it a targeted approach to address an epidemic?

 

Hiw much do you think ICU care costs?

 

Sure thing