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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

#91

Post by rayiner »

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.

Given how often I see the argument that “blue states subsidize red states” I can see why folks who want to maintain their dignity wouldn’t want to expand their reliance on blue state largesse. That money comes with no strings attached.

Also, even if it’s true that blue states may bear the brunt of taxes, inflation hits everyone equally.

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

#92

Post by rayiner »

snarf21 wrote: post #11
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.

A lot of these states have big problems with gerry-mandering and there tends to be huge wealth disparity between the few small wealth centers in the state and the rest of the state is extremely poor. The money just isn't being distributed with any sense of equity.

Income inequality is at least as big of a problem, if not bigger, in blue states than red states: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ.... New York is the most unequal state in the country.

I don’t know about gerrymandering. In the most recent Texas house election (Texas being one of the major ACA holdouts) republicans won a 12-point seat margin with a 7-point popular vote margin. The governor, which is elected by statewide popular vote, won by an 11 point margin. In the 2022 Tennessee House elections, meanwhile, republicans won 75% of seats with 70% of the popular vote, which is as lopsided as some heavily skewed states like California and New York. (At a certain point, winning more seats than popular votes isn’t due to gerrymandering but just normal population distribution effects.)

I suspect the real issue is that, in red states, the democrats tend to be low propensity and younger voters. In Tennessee, Trump beat Biden by 24 points. But the GOP beat democrats by almost 50 points in the popular vote in the 2022 Tennessee House elections.

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

#93

Post by tstrimple »

Gordonjcp wrote: post #87
tstrimple wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't understand responses like this. We're presented with systemic issues, and your "solution" is just "personal responsibility"? Something which has demonstrably failed and lead us to the situation we're in today? Do you often think that doing more of the same thing will lead to different results? Since we're in a technology forum. Let's say you're a product owner and your app is suffering from severe pe…

[flagged]

And your "solution" is completely meaningless because it's been proven to not work across societies. It's like saying the solution to world hunger is easy. Everyone should just feed themselves! Want world peace? Everyone should just be more peaceful! It's completely useless rhetoric with absolutely no value in the conversation. Are you actually incapable of looking at these things as systems with a large number of variables and broad societal impact?

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

#94

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

drivers99 wrote: post #43
HlessClaudesman wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Broccoli, right now after reading this, I'm choosing broccoli.

That's 50 Calories in a serving. What are you having for the other (let's say) 1950 Calories?

Broccoli sauteed with garlic and black pepper is awesome. Then served over rice with a cheddar cheese sauce and I'm pretty sure you can get up there in calories if you want to.

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

#95

Post by burkaman »

rayiner wrote: post #84
burkaman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very extreme claim that requires a lot of evidence. If we're just throwing out ideas, I'll make a claim that "attitude" is a lot less of a factor than having only dollar stores and no grocery stores within an hour's drive. Also, I've lived in Massachusetts my entire life and I've never heard anyone say "eat to live".

You think that “different cultures have different attitudes towards food” is an extreme claim?

No, I think "different American subcultures having different attitudes towards food is the primary factor causing a 60% difference in obesity rate" is an extreme claim.

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

#96

Post by tstrimple »

rixthefox wrote: post #83
tstrimple wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't understand responses like this. We're presented with systemic issues, and your "solution" is just "personal responsibility"? Something which has demonstrably failed and lead us to the situation we're in today? Do you often think that doing more of the same thing will lead to different results? Since we're in a technology forum. Let's say you're a product owner and your app is suffering from severe pe…

I think a better analogy to use would be a very slow loading app. Say your app takes 5 minutes to load the first page and 1 minute to switch between pages after that. Instead of blaming the developers, blame the users for expecting too much of the app. Personal responsibility and all that. It's the users fault they are using the app during peak times. If they really needed access to X part of the app they should have…

I used the app dev side because I think it's more illustrative. There are various teams with various competing priorities who have collectively developed a product which is horribly slow. No individual developer is at fault. Some are efficient with their code, and some are less so. But there is no architecture team or mature SDLC to handle cross cutting concerns or a foundational platform for everyone to build from. Everyone is free to do their own thing and write code the way they want use whatever standards they can find on Google. In that world, just telling the devs to write more efficient code is insufficient to correct the course. The systemic problems that have developed require systemic solutions. A blanket "just do better" has never been useful to anyone.

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

#97

Post by George83728 »

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #42
johngladtj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Losing weight doesn't cost money.

No, it just requires constantly feeling hunger pains. Along with bouts of lightheadedness, distraction, and things of that nature. There are a variety of reasons people get fat, and a variety of reasons people stay fat. Treating the specific reasons for the specific people is a lot safer, and easier, than just having people eat less. For me, I'm a stress eater. I need more money, and better credentials, and then I ca…

> No, it just requires constantly feeling hunger pains.

No it doesn't, just eat more filling foods with lots of fiber. Veggies are cheaper than dirt, far cheaper than junk food, and far more sating. Junk food is engineered to leave you feeling hungry, to encourage you to buy more. Stop buying junk food completely; no more chips, colas or frozen pizzas. Buy vegetables, particularly the leafy ones, and eat as much as it takes to make yourself feel full. You'll lose weight and save money at the same time.

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

#98

Post by burkaman »

xyzzyz wrote: post #78
burkaman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very extreme claim that requires a lot of evidence. If we're just throwing out ideas, I'll make a claim that "attitude" is a lot less of a factor than having only dollar stores and no grocery stores within an hour's drive. Also, I've lived in Massachusetts my entire life and I've never heard anyone say "eat to live".

I seriously doubt that in Alabama there are many people who don’t have a grocery store within an hour drive. Almost certainly less than 10% of population. Even if you said 20 minutes instead of an hour, it wouldn’t be a lot of people either. The thing with areas this remote is that few people live there.

I did exaggerate a little, I apologize. It's not just rural areas though, there are plenty of small towns without any grocery stores, and urban areas where the nearest grocery store is very far away, especially if you don't have regular access to a car. Here's one source that says 1.8 million Alabama residents don't have a grocery store within 45 minutes: http://humsci.auburn.edu/news/hunger_solutions_institute_awa...

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

#99

Post by Gordonjcp »

tstrimple wrote: post #93
Gordonjcp wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

And your "solution" is completely meaningless because it's been proven to not work across societies. It's like saying the solution to world hunger is easy. Everyone should just feed themselves! Want world peace? Everyone should just be more peaceful! It's completely useless rhetoric with absolutely no value in the conversation. Are you actually incapable of looking at these things as systems with a large number of va…

[flagged]

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

#100

Post by maxfurman »

readicculus wrote: post #37
yoyohello13 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 le…

Kale, rice, and beans are notoriously cheap! When I worked in a restaurant 20 years ago we put kale out as decoration because no one wanted to eat it. Times change, I suppose.
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