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The Hollow Men of Hims

alexkesin.com

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Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#171

Post by ryandrake »

827a wrote: post #89
parpfish wrote: post #30

> The genius of Hims lies in understanding that consumers will pay almost any premium to avoid the humiliation of discussing erectile dysfunction or hair loss with an actual human being. Does the telemedicine appeal to people because they want to avoid embarrassment, or because they know that traditional doctors will schedule you for an appointment three months out just to say “have you tried getting better sleep, lo…

Every human is just one "are you drinking enough water? how much water are you drinking" interaction with their doctor away from instant radicalization against the traditional healthcare system. You can really tell the author of this article hasn't yet actually had to use the non-emergent American healthcare system for anything significant.

The awfulness of the American health care system may explain, but does not justify a turn to things like quackery and faith healing.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#172

Post by ryandrake »

CSMastermind wrote: post #125
alphazard wrote: post #28

Given the healthcare bureaucracy in America, it's hard to find anything for the consumer to be mad about here other than the quality of the medications. The intended audience of this article must be pharma and healthcare investors, not consumers. As with most products, companies need a way to make promises to consumers about what's in the products. The only way the consumers will believe those promises is if the cons…

I see a lot of complaints about "the healthcare bureaucracy in America". And I don't doubt that it exists. But I will say the limited number of times I've needed to interact with the system it was surprisingly cheap and downright pleasant. The only negative experiences I've had is interacting with government run health systems (the VA).

Even if it isn’t cheap or pleasant, does that mean we should all turn to supplements and quackery? I’m really surprised at the replies dunking on this article. The fact that anyone can just go out there and make claims about and market their snake oil “medicine” should be worrying to more people.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#173

Post by danans »

floxy wrote: post #133
sandspar wrote: post #119

Interesting how a few rare commenters strongly agree with this article and yet most comments here don't. Perhaps HN is full of people with high digital literacy, relatively high reasoning ability etc. People like this can benefit from the service. The article's core point is that Hims uses unethical marketing. Maybe the HN crowd is privileged: people here may be able to resist marketing. The article's unstated point…

>these unfortunate people spend pretty much their whole lives bouncing around from scam to scam. Should these people be eligible to vote?

> Should these people be eligible to vote?

Absolutely. Being a victim of repeated scams isn't a crime. These people need help and ideally to be given tools to use to protect themselves. They don't deserve disenfranchisement.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#174

Post by ljf »

Tadpole9181 wrote: post #139
const_cast wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it comes to Men's health, doctor's really don't give much of a fuck. Their primary concern is are you actually sick , they don't care about how you feel, or your self-image, or your sense of masculinity. Hair loss is sucky, sure, but in the grand scheme of medicine it's nothing. Erectile dysfunction sucks, but are you old? That's just the name of the game. I lost my testicles to cancer (yippee) and you would be…

> Hair loss is sucky, sure, but in the grand scheme of medicine it's nothing. It's also pretty trivial to prevent or recover at onset. Finasteride and minoxadil are FDA approved on-label prescriptions for it (well, the later is OTC). Dermatologists will happily write the prescription and check in with you as often as you want to schedule.

Just to add, for anyone considering using minoxidil and/or finasteride - I can highly recommend both for the recovery of my hairloss.

But - read up in the side effects and potential risks, they can both cause other issues in some people, and for me it took a while to find the right finasteride dose.

Another downside is oral finasteride use means I can no longer give blood.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#175

Post by windward »

const_cast wrote: post #110
parpfish wrote: post #30

> The genius of Hims lies in understanding that consumers will pay almost any premium to avoid the humiliation of discussing erectile dysfunction or hair loss with an actual human being. Does the telemedicine appeal to people because they want to avoid embarrassment, or because they know that traditional doctors will schedule you for an appointment three months out just to say “have you tried getting better sleep, lo…

When it comes to Men's health, doctor's really don't give much of a fuck. Their primary concern is are you actually sick , they don't care about how you feel, or your self-image, or your sense of masculinity. Hair loss is sucky, sure, but in the grand scheme of medicine it's nothing. Erectile dysfunction sucks, but are you old? That's just the name of the game. I lost my testicles to cancer (yippee) and you would be…

Sounds like they've consigned you to the knacker yard. It would be easier to get if you were intending to abuse it.

I wonder if physicians standards for normal are warped by spending most of their time in contact either with the ill or the overworked?

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#176

Post by spacecadet »

jeremy151 wrote: post #52
jackdeansmith wrote: post #7

>The real tragedy is not that Hims exists, but that it works so perfectly. Every day, thousands of people choose their compounded weight-loss drugs over FDA-approved alternatives, their combination ED pills over established single-ingredient treatments, their algorithmic consultations over actual medical care. They make these choices not because the products are better, but because the entire experience has been opti…

> If you want safe and really high quality medical care you should absolutely have a personal physician you have a personal relationship with, who understands your lifestyle, your risk factors for side effects, and your medical needs deeply. How many Americans have that? Maybe a few dozen? A bit of a tangent: I have this here in the US, through a model called Direct Primary Care. I pay $50/mo for a single provider, u…

Im sorry that has been your experience. I am too on a patient of a doctor who belongs to a "large health system/insurance system provided by my employer with no choice". I have never once discussed billing. Every visit, while short 10-15 minutes, is focused on my health and if I asked questions, can extend to 30+ or more... really depends on my questions. I have never needed an hour with a GP, maybe a specialist.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#177

Post by sokoloff »

jjcob wrote: post #145
bongodongobob wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$50 + health insurance? I saw my PCP after my health insurance had unknowingly lapsed and a physical was ~$1k with just some basic blood work.

How people justify paying $1000 for probably less than 15 minutes of work is beyond me.

That included lab work, talking to the front desk people, the nurse who took the blood, the GP, the drivers, the janitors, the record-keepers, the lab techs, and the calibration work on equipment and who knows who else.

That is way, way more than 15 minutes of work.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#178

Post by xboxnolifes »

ryandrake wrote: post #171
827a wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every human is just one "are you drinking enough water? how much water are you drinking" interaction with their doctor away from instant radicalization against the traditional healthcare system. You can really tell the author of this article hasn't yet actually had to use the non-emergent American healthcare system for anything significant.

The awfulness of the American health care system may explain , but does not justify a turn to things like quackery and faith healing.

A justification is just a moralization of the explanation. It happened because of the explanation, regardless of the morality of it.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#179

Post by skunkworker »

deathanatos wrote: post #137

> The genius of Hims lies in understanding that consumers will pay almost any premium to avoid the humiliation of discussing erectile dysfunction or hair loss with an actual human being. Maybe. > Finasteride for hair loss runs about $10-15 per month as a generic, I wish. Generic finasteride costs ~$70+t¹/3mo but only from a PBM, and $80/mo from a pharmacy, and is utterly uncovered by insurance. Or maybe, it is that t…

You can get generic finasteride 1mg/180 (6 month) for as low as ~$17 if you go to a Kroger pharmacy and use their preferred savings program (I forget the name off hand) and no insurance coverage. Kroger discontinued their Kroger savings and now have a preferred card, which ended up being half the cost of the best deal on GoodRX.

Source: I picked up a 6 month supply last week.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#180

Post by wakawaka28 »

const_cast wrote: post #110
parpfish wrote: post #30

> The genius of Hims lies in understanding that consumers will pay almost any premium to avoid the humiliation of discussing erectile dysfunction or hair loss with an actual human being. Does the telemedicine appeal to people because they want to avoid embarrassment, or because they know that traditional doctors will schedule you for an appointment three months out just to say “have you tried getting better sleep, lo…

When it comes to Men's health, doctor's really don't give much of a fuck. Their primary concern is are you actually sick , they don't care about how you feel, or your self-image, or your sense of masculinity. Hair loss is sucky, sure, but in the grand scheme of medicine it's nothing. Erectile dysfunction sucks, but are you old? That's just the name of the game. I lost my testicles to cancer (yippee) and you would be…

Is this in the US? If so I think you just need to switch doctors or go through a telemedicine consult. Your current doctor sounds like a jerk.
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