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The Hollow Men of Hims

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Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#211

Post by ike2792 »

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…

+1000 to this. If your primary care physician works for a large medical chain (which most do), they aren't allowed to prescribe anything that goes against the chain's so-called "evidence-based" standards. Never mind that most medical chains also have insurance company arms and that these "standards" just happen to line up with whatever it is the insurance company thinks is appropriate to pay for. If you go to an independent clinic you can usually get prescriptions for "lifestyle" issues such as the ones Hims treats and then use GoodRx or a cheap online pharmacy to fulfill your prescriptions. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of the 2010 Affordable Care Act was to incentivize consolidation in the health care space, so independent clinics and practitioners are a dying breed.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#212

Post by georgeecollins »

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).

One thing about people in the US is that they really don't have as much bureaucracy as other developed nations and culturally we put a huge premium on service. So I think for a lot of people healthcare (or other forms of insurance) is the where they encounter it. That said, this is something I like about the US and I would like to see healthcare be more service oriented.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#213

Post by FeloniousHam »

ryandrake wrote: post #167
binarymax wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s possible for both you and the article to be right. The system sucks, but Hims are also terrible, and medical care should not be like Amazon prime.

Yea the US healthcare system is truly, truly awful, but that does not justify a turn to supplements, quackery, faith healers and witch doctors. The fact that people are turning towards these things should be a wake up call to the medical system, but then again the medical system misses wake up calls over and over…

I like the US healthcare system? At least my on-the-ground, lived experience into middle age has been great. I've always had high-deductible insurance through my employer, never had a problem getting a specialist (even during the supposedly horrible HMO years) or special service, eg. MRI.

With an HSA, I'm basically self-insured for everything short of something catastrophic.

I don't know if I'm an outlier in this American Carnage, but with very few exceptions, this is the norm in my circles.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#214

Post by trillic »

decafninja wrote: post #90
jeremy151 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I’ve heard of this, also known as concierge medicine right? But the figures I’ve seen quoted for such service usually begin in the four digits, sometimes five digits, annually.

I've anecdotally done some research and in SoCal a true concierge medicine for what I would be looking for with a brick-and-mortar location and imaging on-site is ~$5000/yr.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#215

Post by asdf6969 »

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…

> you should absolutely have a personal physician you have a personal relationship with

best we can do here is the closest walk in clinic that isn’t fully booked by 9am and a doctor I’ve never met before. All they ever do is send me for blood work which is always flawless. Eventually my issues resolve themselves. If I get cancer or something serious I expect to just find out shortly before I die

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#216

Post by mindslight »

potato3732842 wrote: post #204
CSMastermind wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Yeah, they're real good at doing needless work with a smile on their face. Next time you go to a GP's office for no reason other than to gatekeep a specialist you know you need ask yourself what all those people are being paid for any why the situation deserves anything more than someone on the order of an RN saying "yeah looks like an infection to me" via a screen, to pick but one example. Like all bureaucracy, ever…

You might not even notice it just from dealing with one referral. It really starts to gall when you see the pattern of nearly every actor in the system doing the least amount possible and then quickly passing responsibility on to someone else, often via yourself. The only exceptions I've seen are hospital doctors when there is an immediate acute problem that they can't just punt, and pediatrics where frequent repeating followups can be justified. Healthcare workers join this system because they want to help people, but the administrative parasites grind up their attention into tiny pieces until it is all but meaningless.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#217

Post by bitwize »

hammock wrote: post #63
bickfordb wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there evidence that compounded Semaglutide from Hims pharmacies has harmed anyone?

Safe and effective. Side effects are very rare and are usually limited to soreness at the site of injection. Recommend everyone who is recommended semaglutide by a relevant authority, to get it. The obesity epidemic is a national security concern

Semaglutide is linked to NAION, a "stroke" in the retinal blood vessels linked to a blood pressure drop there, typically when sleeping. I think I already have one of these in one eye. I DO NOT want to risk getting it in the other. Staying off semaglutide until it's really necessary.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#218

Post by FireBeyond »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #188
jjcob wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently got a physical exam, including ultra sound, two urine samples, and bloodwork, at a private doctor in Austria and it cost 150€. You Americans are crazy. I'm not sure how a physical would be more than 15 minutes of work. Lab techs? Standard blood tests are all automated, the most complicated part is putting the stickers on the vials. Yes, someone needs to calibrate the machine, but the machine processes 1000…

Americans are so much more fat and unhealthy than aussies. That’s the primary reason why it’s so much cheaper in Australia.

Supposedly in the Salzburg airport in Austria, there's an information counter for people who have learned that they are in fact in Austria, not Australia...

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#219

Post by FireBeyond »

alphazard wrote: post #34
binarymax wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s possible for both you and the article to be right. The system sucks, but Hims are also terrible, and medical care should not be like Amazon prime.

> and medical care should not be like Amazon prime. Speak for yourself; that is exactly what I want. And anyone else who wants a similar experience should be able to purchase it.

I admit I went to Hims a while ago. I filled out the questionnaire and had a "physican interview" where I was literally told "You need to change this answer from this to that, and this answer to this" if I wanted to get medicine, and "would [I] like a chance to review my questionnaires and we could discuss again in a few minutes?"

That's not medical care.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#220

Post by Der_Einzige »

FireBeyond wrote: post #218
Der_Einzige wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans are so much more fat and unhealthy than aussies. That’s the primary reason why it’s so much cheaper in Australia.

Supposedly in the Salzburg airport in Austria, there's an information counter for people who have learned that they are in fact in Austria, not Australia...

Hahaha I just saw! They're two letters apart!
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