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The Hollow Men of Hims

alexkesin.com

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Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#221

Post by blactuary »

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.

That's what you want until you have a serious and expensive health care problem. Segmenting off the healthy people like this simply means the people with chronic conditions or acute catastrophes are bearing more of the cost rather than pooling the risk.

Everyone wants to be the sickest person in whatever health care pool they are in, but that's not sustainable

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#222

Post by swat535 »

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…

> 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.

Yes, I learned this the hard way, when I was trying to figure out why I have zero libido, brain fog and brain fog having a healthy BMI and lifting weights.

As a 35 year old, I had the T levels of a 65 year old men, yet doctors refused to consider this an issue because it was in the "normal" range.

It took me over a year to get a diagnosis of Secondary Hypogonadism in Canada and that was after I went to see a male private urologist after giving up on a public health care in Canada.

This was finally revealed once I finally did more specialized tests for LH, FSH, Estradiol, Testostrone and Free Testosterone at the requested of my urologist.

After 3 months of HCG treatment and all the symptoms were gone. It has now been 2 years and I have never felt better in my life.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#223

Post by kridsdale1 »

mlsu wrote: post #14

The explosive growth of Hims and other side-channel healthcare businesses (using this model -- telehealth combined with compounded meds) is entirely due to the "legitimate" healthcare system's complete and total failure to serve patients' needs. You can maybe talk about the hollow men of Novo and Lilly, who colluded with PBMs and insurers for most of a decade to push the cost of insulin analogues into the stratospher…

It’s no wonder someone with a mustache and green hat was pushed over the edge.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#224

Post by kridsdale1 »

827a wrote: post #86
yold__ wrote: post #12

Semaglutide / GLP-1 compounding is not limited to just Hims. Lot's of pharmacies do it. The manufacturer (Novo Nordisk) charges 5x-10x for the exact same thing. The author calls the GLP-1s used in compounding "Chinese Knockoffs", but offers no evidence of quality control problems, and is instead relying on the reader's prejudices. GLP-1 drugs may be a game-changer for obesity and diabetes, the same way that cholester…

Agreed. The number of times the article specifically calls out "shady Chinese knockoffs" is honestly, actually, racism. If there's evidence that Hims' drugs are harmful: Present it. The article doesn't. I know tons of people who have used Hims and companies like it, for a variety of things. I'm aware of no specific or general problems anyone has had with their medication.

Truthfully China is the source for a huge amount of “legitimate” generic and brand name patent protected drugs.

China produces things. Of high quality as well as low. More and more, it’s the only source for high quality things.

The OP’s conniption is about intellectual property and monopoly protection, not health.

Everyone in the world (almost) would be far healthier with weekly injections of Chinese chemicals.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#225

Post by kridsdale1 »

gunsle wrote: post #23
n8cpdx wrote: post #15

> Regulatory arbitrage disguised as innovation, dressed in the fashionable vocabulary of patient empowerment while serving no master but the quarterly earnings call. No masters except the patients that are literally being empowered to make choices about their medical care and are paying a substantial premium (in many cases) to do so. I would happily be empowered by my doctor and UnitedHealthcare instead, but sadly th…

Tretinoin is easily prescribed by seeing a dermatologist. What do you mean it’s a nightmare to get even with a prescription? I think a tube of cream cost like $10 at Costco. You don’t even need to use your own insurance to buy things from the pharmacy as long as you have a prescription. I never once had a problem filling it before I switched to Accutane.

I was able to buy it two times from an Indian website. I have no concerns about its safety profile.

Fuck the AMA gatekeepers. Bodily Autonomy means I should get to buy and use any medicine I decide it worth my personal risk assessment.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#226

Post by FireBeyond »

digianarchist wrote: post #94
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…

My Kaiser doctor recommended Hims for finasteride.

Kaiser isn't necessarily the best example here. Your doctor likely did that because Kaiser will generally not cover things like that, just as they'll almost never prescribe sildenafil or tadalafil or semaglutide (but they will happily refer you for gastric bypass...).

There are good things about Kaiser, but definitely not-so-good things. I'm still pissed at them for my fiancée, fresh from the dentist after a few root canals with a script for pain medication was told (at their hospital pharmacy, no less, so it wasn't that they didn't have it available) that they would only fill pain medication via mail order. "Oh good, so I just need to wait 5-7 business days for relief from my root canals."

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#227

Post by FireBeyond »

n8cpdx wrote: post #15

> Regulatory arbitrage disguised as innovation, dressed in the fashionable vocabulary of patient empowerment while serving no master but the quarterly earnings call. No masters except the patients that are literally being empowered to make choices about their medical care and are paying a substantial premium (in many cases) to do so. I would happily be empowered by my doctor and UnitedHealthcare instead, but sadly th…

> Try getting tretinoin from a real doctor; I’ve been written prescriptions multiple times, never once succeeded in actually getting it, because insurance is a fucking nightmare. And I’m not on a cheap plan.

Deviated septum with 90% occlusion in one nostril, see an ENT, also on a "platinum" plan. "Great, let's schedule surgery." ENT: "Hold fast. First, I'm going to prescribe you these two nasal sprays so you can come back to me in four weeks and tell me that, to our mutual surprise and disappointment, they didn't realign the cartilage, and that way, insurance will pre-authorize the surgery."

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#228

Post by FireBeyond »

addicted wrote: post #69
n8cpdx wrote: post #15

> Regulatory arbitrage disguised as innovation, dressed in the fashionable vocabulary of patient empowerment while serving no master but the quarterly earnings call. No masters except the patients that are literally being empowered to make choices about their medical care and are paying a substantial premium (in many cases) to do so. I would happily be empowered by my doctor and UnitedHealthcare instead, but sadly th…

I'm confused. An insurance company cannot reject a prescription. They can only reject paying for it. So if you're paying for it with Hims why wouldn't you be willing to pay for the medication the doctor prescribes to you if the insurance company is refusing to pay for it?

Yeah, please don't repeat this. This is the same thing that insurers say to Congress for other things too. "We're not denying care, we're just not going to be the ones paying for it", be it cardiac surgery, or (in the case of United) even Heli EMS from MVAs, because it wasn't "pre-authorized".

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#229

Post by Spooky23 »

zdragnar wrote: post #102
hammock wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don't think the question was whether semaglutide was safe, but whether the version that Hims sells is safe. That includes things like being free from contaminants, stability of the compound, etc.

Hims just outsources fulfillment to a compounding pharmacy. Usually they add vitamin B-12 to make it "customized". Are they crushing rybelsus? Getting raw materials through some mysterious supply chain from Ukraine, China or Israel?

You have no idea.

On the flip, I think access to basic drugs for stuff like ED, hair loss, etc is fine. But they also do stuff like off-label anti-depressants, etc can potentially be dangerous... but at the same time, people are going to urgent cares and getting antidepressants with just more cost and friction.

Re: The Hollow Men of Hims

#230

Post by digianarchist »

FireBeyond wrote: post #226
digianarchist wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Kaiser doctor recommended Hims for finasteride.

Kaiser isn't necessarily the best example here. Your doctor likely did that because Kaiser will generally not cover things like that, just as they'll almost never prescribe sildenafil or tadalafil or semaglutide (but they will happily refer you for gastric bypass...). There are good things about Kaiser, but definitely not-so-good things. I'm still pissed at them for my fiancée, fresh from the dentist after a few root…

Yeah they can definitely be archaic. I’ve stuck with them because they are the only provider offered to me that covers double jaw surgery. The cost of paying out of pocket for that would be prohibitively expensive.
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