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America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

newyorker.com

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Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#41

Post by DoreenMichele »

pengaru wrote: post #24

My understanding is that a major cause of America's burgeoning healthcare burden is the food environment. The argument I've heard smarter, better informed people than me make is: If healthcare were nationalized, it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. When the government subsidizes farming corn on a massive scale, and…

My understanding is that a major cause of America's burgeoning healthcare burden is the food environment.

That's only one factor. Another is car dependence and lack of pedestrian-friendly built environments.

There is a lot of research on just how much harm it does us to sit all day, every day. We sit in a car to make a long commute to work. We sit our desks. We sit in the car again.

And hitting the gym occasionally doesn't fully compensate for living like that.

Urban planners used to configure cities to help promote physical health and we don't do enough of that anymore. It's nigh impossible to escape a sick outcome when trapped in a sick system that makes healthy choices largely out of reach for most people.

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#42

Post by paulcole »

dimensi0nal wrote: post #9
runawaybottle wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really think 5 months of a pandemic is going to expose this? New York is returning back to normal. The new surges will pass in the same time frame (5 months). The looming primary care crisis will show itself on a much longer time frame. It’s a snake that’s wrapping around, slow acting venom, and we’ll finally see it when it’s not just the ailing boomers that will need continuous care for ubiquitous things like Di…

Should health insurance, private or public, really pay to deal with people's self-induced health problems from eating too much, smoking, etc?

Yes.

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#43

Post by [deleted] »

briandear wrote: post #27
pengaru wrote: post #24

My understanding is that a major cause of America's burgeoning healthcare burden is the food environment. The argument I've heard smarter, better informed people than me make is: If healthcare were nationalized, it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. When the government subsidizes farming corn on a massive scale, and…

> it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. It would also incentivize the government to restrict all manor of activities in the name of “health.” Want to go rock climbing? Pay a tax. Want to ride a motorcycle? Pay a tax. Want ice cream after a hard running workout? Pay a tax. Don’t exercise enough? Pay another tax. Allo…

[deleted]

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#44

Post by pm90 »

pengaru wrote: post #24

My understanding is that a major cause of America's burgeoning healthcare burden is the food environment. The argument I've heard smarter, better informed people than me make is: If healthcare were nationalized, it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. When the government subsidizes farming corn on a massive scale, and…

Growing food and subsidizing farmers that produce food is more for the National Security angle: without enough food, there will be rapid social instability and riots and a complete breakdown of society. It’s absolutely essential to produce much more food than can be possibly required by the populace.

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#45

Post by gruez »

briandear wrote: post #27
pengaru wrote: post #24

My understanding is that a major cause of America's burgeoning healthcare burden is the food environment. The argument I've heard smarter, better informed people than me make is: If healthcare were nationalized, it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. When the government subsidizes farming corn on a massive scale, and…

> it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. It would also incentivize the government to restrict all manor of activities in the name of “health.” Want to go rock climbing? Pay a tax. Want to ride a motorcycle? Pay a tax. Want ice cream after a hard running workout? Pay a tax. Don’t exercise enough? Pay another tax. Allo…

>It would also incentivize the government to restrict all manor of activities in the name of “health.” Want to go rock climbing? Pay a tax. Want to ride a motorcycle? Pay a tax.

Okay I'll bite. Why shouldn't we do that? If you're going to 28x your death risk[1] by participating in a purely non-essential activity, why should you be able to externalize the costs to others?

>Perhaps instead of taxing food, we instead tax obesity. Put the responsibility on the individual.

That's actually not a bad idea. We kinda already have that for smoking, in the form of higher insurance premiums for smokers.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_safety#Crash_rates_...

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#46

Post by mlavin »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #38
briandear wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. It would also incentivize the government to restrict all manor of activities in the name of “health.” Want to go rock climbing? Pay a tax. Want to ride a motorcycle? Pay a tax. Want ice cream after a hard running workout? Pay a tax. Don’t exercise enough? Pay another tax. Allo…

> Perhaps instead of taxing food, we instead tax obesity. Put the responsibility on the individual. You probably have better genes than my family. Lookup endomorph body type or reasons of reduced metabolism. Evolution has inversed survival of the fattest, so it seems ;)

>endomorph body type

Somatypes are an ancient pseudoscience, while caloric intake relative to TDEE doesn't lie.

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#47

Post by [deleted] »

tristor wrote: post #32
hippich wrote: post #20

Anecdotal data point about primary care: About a year or so ago I subscribed to "direct/concierge primary care practice". I pay $80/month and in exchange getting an access to a primary doctor who takes care of keeping an eye on me, my blood pressure, all my prescriptions (some of which used to require monthly visits to specialists). I am also getting access to really cheap prices on labs, typically 30 min visits same…

I’d be interested in enrolling in a similar service. How do you find out about these services in your area?

[deleted]

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#48

Post by baix777 »

pengaru wrote: post #24

My understanding is that a major cause of America's burgeoning healthcare burden is the food environment. The argument I've heard smarter, better informed people than me make is: If healthcare were nationalized, it would incentivize the government to help fight the battle against itself in the context of unhealthy agricultural subsidies and policies. When the government subsidizes farming corn on a massive scale, and…

Canada is similar to the US in terms of food consumption, and yet Canada has much better health care outcomes and lower health care expenditures. I'm not saying food isn't a factor, I'm just wondering how big a factor it is compared to universal access to health care.

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#49

Post by ackbar03 »

hippich wrote: post #20

Anecdotal data point about primary care: About a year or so ago I subscribed to "direct/concierge primary care practice". I pay $80/month and in exchange getting an access to a primary doctor who takes care of keeping an eye on me, my blood pressure, all my prescriptions (some of which used to require monthly visits to specialists). I am also getting access to really cheap prices on labs, typically 30 min visits same…

In the future they'll also come armed and ready to rock and roll like the trauma team in cyberpunk 2077. I'm only half joking, with privitized military now a real thing I can see this being an actual service for the super rich

Re: America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis

#50

Post by hippich »

ackbar03 wrote: post #49
hippich wrote: post #20

Anecdotal data point about primary care: About a year or so ago I subscribed to "direct/concierge primary care practice". I pay $80/month and in exchange getting an access to a primary doctor who takes care of keeping an eye on me, my blood pressure, all my prescriptions (some of which used to require monthly visits to specialists). I am also getting access to really cheap prices on labs, typically 30 min visits same…

In the future they'll also come armed and ready to rock and roll like the trauma team in cyberpunk 2077. I'm only half joking, with privitized military now a real thing I can see this being an actual service for the super rich

As long as "cheaper" option (i.e. without armed team) is still available, i guess it is still a good outcome, considering everything 2077-else? :)
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