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GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

glp1digest.com

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Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#241

Post by arp242 »

Spivak wrote: post #231
arp242 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the long-term (>20 years) effects of taking GLP-1s really all that well understood? Because that's kind of what you're suggesting here. Making millions of people dependent on a drug to maintain basic health does not strike me as the best of ideas regardless. I understand why it's a good idea for many from an individual perspective and I'm not judging anyone, but from a societal perspective it does not seem like a…

Why not? We have an overweight and obesity epidemic that has persisted through everything else we've gotten enough political capital to try thus far. The "miracle" drug is the most promising direction we've had in a long time. Whatever possible adverse long term effects have to be (plausibility they actually happen) x (harm they cause) > known harms of being overweight. The scale of the solution is allowed to match t…

Well, don't say you weren't warned when it turns out the miracle is not such a miracle after all and it all massively backfires in a few decades, at which point you're still going to have to actually fix the real underlying causes.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#242

Post by sroussey »

mattmanser wrote: post #88
petesergeant wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> admittedly, it kind of sucks in the moment to be on I don’t think that’s a typical experience for most people, other than the price

There's often side effects, including nausea, diarrhea, headaches, bloating, discomfort, etc. As far as I can tell from forums, it's not like 5% have the side effects, it's like 80-90%. But for the first time in decades, I felt full. I didn't want to finish a meal, it was too much. My body regulated my food intake in what felt like a natural way. I hadn't even realized my body had somehow lost that fundamental mechan…

From the people I know on trizepitide, side effects were strongest when upping the dosage in the protocol, particularly two days after. The advice I have received while considering it:

- change your diet. you can't eat the same food at the same volume. or even is smaller volume if the food is a burger, etc.

- watch your drinking, your tolerance for alcohol is reset, and again on the volume thing

- drink a lot of water. apparently opposite to all the volume warnings above, lol

- split dosage and inject twice a week. (i dunno, talk to your doctor. also this only works when you have a vial and not the auto-injectors, though apparently the autoinjectors are way more expensive)

On the other hand, when i ask about what happens if you go on a bender and eat two burgers and lots of fries and drink a six pack?? From people that used to gladly do that: "gross, why would i do that?" That there is the real change.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#243

Post by brap »

Just want to share my own experience since were doing it:

Took Wegovy (Semaglutide) for about 6 months. Barely lost any weight, would occasionally get nauseous.

Then the doc switched me to Mounjaro (Tirzepatide) + Phentermine, and holy shit, I just don’t feel like eating, almost ever. Lost 20kg in 6 months, which is all I needed to lose, never had any side effects. None.

I did feel a little weird/buzzed the first time I took Phentermine, but it went away the next day.

I feel like for many people it’s not really the physical hunger that makes them fat, it’s that annoying voice in your head telling you to snack something for no reason at all. It sometimes felt almost like drug addiction.

Tirz+Phent are great for that.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#244

Post by lumost »

pmg102 wrote: post #74
lumost wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being downvoted as many people who try to count calories fail to achieve meaningful results. From my own experience, weight gain follows a simple progression. 1. Expected high stress work day -> Coffee w/ food item in the morning 2. Stress during the day -> No exercise + large lunch. 3. Post-day -> door dash due to not feeling up for cooking. 4. Sleep -> Get 6 hours of sleep due to not having the energy to mai…

People seem to be taking it as given that "someone else preparing the food for you" == "the food is more likely to lead to weight gain". Why should that be? Is it not possible to order healthy food in? If not this would surprise me as it seems a number of people would be seeking this. I'm asking as I don't have personal experience.

The ordering out tends to correlate with someone not having the energy or discipline to make what they want themselves. That lack of energy leads to caving on food cravings and overeating.

I recently switched from a major tech company to an academic position and lost 5 pounds in the first month. Simply due to lower stress making the healthy habits seem “easy.”

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#245

Post by gregw134 »

loeg wrote: post #135
hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #23

So... There's a miracle drug powerful enough to robustly lower people's all cause mortality, but since health insurance and life insurance are industries with vastly different time preferences, this is not a good thing for the life insurers because people just keep getting off the magic longevity drug and screwing up their predictions. Because, admittedly, it kind of sucks in the moment to be on. And I'm guessing jus…

They aren't even that awful in maintenance -- just expensive. The unpleasant part is when you're increasing the dose. After a while at the same dose, it's more or less unnoticeable IMO.

Unnoticable meaning doesn't have any effect at all, or just no bad side effects?

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#246

Post by foota »

etothepii wrote: post #54
foota wrote: post #11

I realize this is a fraught question, because not everyone is overweight by choice (whether due to a subsisting on whatever they can afford, time, genetics, injury, etc,.) but I believe that insurers are able to consider whether someone smokes cigarettes when setting premiums for ACA based healthcare. With the above caveats that would make this difficult, it would be nice if we could treat "voluntary" obesity similar…

I think the article is making the point that that is what they have traditionally been able to do but they no longer can. Since the magic drugs are giving people the will power to be able to make these changes.

The article is about life insurance, not health insurance (I should have made it clear I was talking about health insurance).

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#247

Post by chhxdjsj »

k__ wrote: post #209
jtrn wrote: post #204

Clinical psychologist here in Norway, and just my subjective experience: People stop GLP1 agonists for the following reasons, in descending order: - They want to enjoy eating again. - Medications are a hassle. - Worry about long-term effects, even if there is no alarming evidence for now. - Price (we are a spoiled/rich country). - Other (like hating needles, feeling bad for taking medications that others need more, b…

How much does it cost right now? Are there any alternatives coming out soon or generics?

Grey market from China is around $250/year for tirzepatide

There are group chats with tens of thousands of people and I havent seen any issues with the drug

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#249

Post by terminalshort »

massung wrote: post #92
arn3n wrote: post #4

Obesity is highly correlated with other medical conditions, from cancer to diabetes to heart disease. I wonder if there is a point at which it is cheaper for health insurance companies to offer subsidized or even free GLP-1s to patients than pay out for other specialized medications. For example, my insurance covers flu shots in my community every year because it's presumably less expensive to pay for the shots compa…

I don’t know if your topic switch was intentional - if so, my apologies and this is just for people outside the US who don’t know… The article is about life insurance, which is very different from medical insurance. Medical insurance companies often already go out of their way to pay early to save in the long run (e.g. free preventative care, checkups, etc.). I can’t speak to GLP-1s, but it’s possible that right now…

Medical insurance in the US is not incentivized to save money. In fact it's just the opposite. The ACA requires that 80% of premiums be paid out to medical expenses. If an insurance company encourages people to get preventive care and lowers its expenses, that means they also have to lower premiums. So they actually want costs to be as high as possible since they get to keep 20%.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#250

Post by alvah »

samus wrote: post #145
refulgentis wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subtly different: you read "most...return to normal...within 2 years", it says "When someone stops the medication , they'll [return to baseline]" Then from there, I click through the 65% #, assuming they have a good study on 65% of people stop after a year. Nah, they don't. It's super complex but tl;dr: specific cohort, and somehow the # getting on it in year 2 is higher than the # of people who quit in year 1. I hav…

Since it's so new, of course there aren't any long-term data on GLP-1 takers. However, relying on prior knowledge about people who are good on the metrics, it can be presumed that they will do fine. And won't create financial risk for the insurer due to passing on earlier than expected. But only if they keep taking their meds and/or fix any underlying behavioral and health issues that made them obese in the first cas…

GLP-1 isn’t new - the first trials were 20 years ago & there’s a lot of long term data from its use in diabetes management, prior to the weight loss application.
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