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Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

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Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#31

Post by EatingWithForks »

johngladtj wrote: post #29
EatingWithForks wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most health insurance doesn't cover weight loss treatment without a condition like T2D, heart issues, etc. If you're fat enough that it's damaging your health you're extremely unlikely to be able to lose it without significant support through medicine, nutritionists, etc.

Losing weight doesn't cost money.

If you're that fat you're statistically unlikely to lose weight without medical intervention of some sort, even something as basic as talking to a fucking nutritionist about portion sizes.

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#33

Post by Someone »

hello_computer wrote: post #18
standardUser wrote: post #2

"Seventy-nine out of the 100 counties with the highest levels of medical debt are in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA" Who benefits in these 10 states that have still failed to expand Medicaid? What is the upside, to either the populations of these states or the politicians who run these states and make those decisions? Because the downsides are obvious and seem to directly harm a lot of people.

[flagged]

Safety belts and airbags are mediocre solutions, too, but that doesn’t imply you shouldn’t have them, even if you are a very careful driver.

Also, like with drivers and car accidents, there are people who happen to get type 2 diabetes even though they do what they can to avoid it.

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#34

Post by pjmorris »

hello_computer wrote: post #15
thinkingkong wrote: post #6

This is as much a cultural problem as a financial one. Somehow we've convinced ourselves that in spite of the fact that we can afford to provide everyone with good food and access to medical care, that we'd rather give you bad food which causes health care issues and then treat those because it contributes to GDP.

Industry caters to consumer demand. If consumers wanted white meat, fruit and vegetables, they would have been provided as cheaply and abundantly as red meat and corn syrup.

I think that'd be true if chickens were the size of cows and it was easier to grow, say, tomatoes, than corn.

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#35

Post by Gordonjcp »

EatingWithForks wrote: post #31
johngladtj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Losing weight doesn't cost money.

If you're that fat you're statistically unlikely to lose weight without medical intervention of some sort, even something as basic as talking to a fucking nutritionist about portion sizes.

[flagged]

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#36

Post by hello_computer »

pjmorris wrote: post #34
hello_computer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Industry caters to consumer demand. If consumers wanted white meat, fruit and vegetables, they would have been provided as cheaply and abundantly as red meat and corn syrup.

I think that'd be true if chickens were the size of cows and it was easier to grow, say, tomatoes, than corn.

Chicken is already cheaper than beef. A lot cheaper.

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#37

Post by readicculus »

yoyohello13 wrote: post #13
prottog wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is as much a cultural problem as a financial one. I live in one of these Diabetes Belt counties. I'd like to add another aspect to the "cultural problem", which is that the median person here eats absolutely horrendously and doesn't exercise at all. > we'd rather give you bad food I'd like to believe that people have the agency of choosing what they eat.

> I'd like to believe that people have the agency of choosing what they eat. They do, but they need to know how to eat a healthy diet. I don't know about you, but I've never once seen a commercial about eating whole foods with vegetables. I am however bombarded on a daily basis with adds for fried chicken and burgers. Some people just don't have the access and education.

I don't think it's an advertising thing though it could play into it.

- Eating a varied healthy diet is a lot more expensive than eating a varied unhealthy diet (if you can eat kale, rice, and beans all day then good for you but most can't)

- We're creatures of habit, if we grow up eating unhealthy we are more likely to continue to as adults. Eating healthy for most people requires cooking for yourself, many never learn this skill or see their parents putting daily effort into meals when they are children.

- Lack of public education around the topic, lack funding for free healthy lunches for school children

I had a friend when I was in school who had the most messed up disgusting teeth I'd ever seen. He had dental insurance, a decent job, decent pay. Turns out he never grew up learning that you're supposed to brush your teeth regularly so he just never made a habit out of it.

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#38

Post by w1nst0nsm1th »

burkaman wrote: post #7

Related: ProPublica investigation on doctors performing unnecessary amputations on poor black diabetes patients, because they don't pay enough attention to the patients and also get paid more to amputate. https://features.propublica.org/diabetes-amputations/black-a... Another link if you are skeptical there is a racial issue: page 12 of https://data.dartmouthatlas.org/downloads/reports/Diabetes_r... . Among Medicare…

Man.. It's Nazi Germany level of evil.

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#39

Post by specialist »

standardUser wrote: post #2

"Seventy-nine out of the 100 counties with the highest levels of medical debt are in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA" Who benefits in these 10 states that have still failed to expand Medicaid? What is the upside, to either the populations of these states or the politicians who run these states and make those decisions? Because the downsides are obvious and seem to directly harm a lot of people.

Spite.

Segregationists closed public pools and defunded public schools, rather than share with black people. Hurting poor whites as much as poor blacks.

Of course they'd also gut the social safety net.

Re: Many people living in the 'Diabetes Belt' are plagued with medical debt

#40

Post by jfengel »

standardUser wrote: post #2

"Seventy-nine out of the 100 counties with the highest levels of medical debt are in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA" Who benefits in these 10 states that have still failed to expand Medicaid? What is the upside, to either the populations of these states or the politicians who run these states and make those decisions? Because the downsides are obvious and seem to directly harm a lot of people.

The Federal Government covers 90% of the Medicaid expansion costs. Which means that there is a some cost in terms of state taxes.

But that's not the reason I usually see expressed. It usually comes expressed like this:

“The health care industrial complex made up of hospitals, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies are the great robber barons of our time,” Oliva said. “The term robber baron is defined by government manipulation, monopolizing industry and price gouging.”

“We must reform Medicaid and double down on pursuing common-sense policy reforms to unleash innovation and increase access that can all lead to lowering costs,” Zander said.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/politics/state/2020/...

I'm afraid I don't entirely understand what that means.

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