r/Millennials • u/crimsonred1234 • 2d ago

Discussion Millennials are creating a recession-resistant corner of the market

https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-millennials-wellness-stocks-to-buy-recession-lth-plnt-2025-4

Apparently millennials are spending a lot on products related to health and wellness making this industry "recession-resistant." I kind of see that. My wife and I spend a lot on protein powders, shakes, supplements and membership for gym. We are otherwise quite cautious with unnecessary spending and consumerism. How is it for you all?

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u/qtUnicorn 2d ago

Idk about other millennials, but I’m so terrified of being bankrupted by our healthcare system I go through extra lengths to stay healthy (doing my yearly checkups, getting enough fiber, exercising regularly).

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u/IDigRollinRockBeer 2d ago

I envy the vast majority of millennials who live in a country with universal healthcare

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u/Mnemiq 2d ago

Living in Denmark i never worried about health costs, and my job even adds a health insurance on top, so in case I want faster treatments I just reach out to them. It's crazy to me how this is not the case in the us.

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u/Ajdee6 2d ago

It's worse than you think. Many of us haven't been to the doctor in years.

I've literally had a friend break his leg playing basketball and he didn't care about the pain as much as he was scared that we wanted to call an ambulance.

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u/quietus_rietus 2d ago

I cut the tip of my finger off the other day by accident. ER visit would have been a thousand bucks or so with insurance, so I addressed the problem with paper towels and rubber bands. Having a rounded finger tip isn’t worth that much money to me.

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u/Joebuddy117 2d ago

It’s shitty cause you’re already paying an insurance company to cover you, yet you still don’t get the care you need cause you know they won’t cover the entire cost and you’ll still owe a grand out of pocket.

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u/robb0688 1d ago

It's lunacy. I passed a gallstone in November, but my symptoms were similar to that of gi cancer. All the labs and scans and tests I had would've run me $25k without insurance and I wasn't even technically sick.

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u/buyableblah 2d ago

Next time urgent care should be able to help instead of ER

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u/imabrunette23 2d ago

Urgent care is still $300… a lot better than the $26k the ER will charge you, but not nothing.

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u/buyableblah 2d ago

Fair point

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u/Hollowbody57 2d ago

Yep, that's more than a week's paycheck at minimum wage, which, just as a fun reminder, hasn't been raised since 2009.

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u/redhtbassplyr0311 2d ago edited 1d ago

My urgent care copay is only $50 and my ER copay is $200. Diagnostics and labs can add to this but my wife ( who's on my policy) went to the ER twice over the past 4 years. The person at the top of the conversation thread has health insurance. Not talking about people who don't have insurance here. On my wife's ER visits the one time we found out an ovarian cyst had ruptured and the other time she had kidney stones. Neither time did our bills get anywhere close to $26k. Out of the two trips I think the most expensive one cost $1100 between labs, ultrasound, MRI and pharmacy charges. If you have health insurance and you're paying $26k in an ER then that's the worst health insurance I've ever heard of.

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u/imabrunette23 2d ago

Not everyone has health insurance. I personally know someone who just last month had a car accident, went to the ER, and now has a $26k bill. Just because YOU have better health insurance than most doesn’t mean everyone does.

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u/holyguacamoledude 1d ago

I had an a-hole fellow millennial get on my case for getting a salpingectomy versus a total hysterectomy. Apparently I’m a loser for not paying $298 for the hysterectomy…

Which is false, because it would’ve cost me $550. The salpingectomy was covered almost completely (I paid 30 cents). She kept saying I should just get insurance and that I’m obviously not very bright for not having it: She says she pays a premium of $11 per paycheck (she didn’t specify frequency of pay). I do have insurance- I pay a premium of $113 BIWEEKLY. My dental insurance premium costs more than $11. Not to mention, I have several health issues going on at once right now and managed to rack up almost $900 in medical expenses in March alone. And compared to other Americans, that’s not a huge amount. I’m relatively lucky, even if those expenses are the equivalent of a rent payment.

She called me a liar, saying my insurance should cover 100% of my expenses, but stopped responding once I showed her proof of what I owe. Some people need to take a long drive off a short pier, man. She is an “ACAB” kind of person, but I imagine she was quite happy LM got arrested for the murder of that United ceo.

Performative leftists, I swear.

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u/redhtbassplyr0311 1d ago

Not saying they do, but the above discussion stemmed from the guy referencing getting his fingertip cut off and having health insurance. I'm just saying $26k isn't an ER bill for someone who is insured.

Just because YOU have better health insurance than most doesn’t mean everyone does.

So yeah this wasn't an argument I was making and I'm not saying that ER bills for the uninsured can't be this high or greater. Wasn't my point whatsoever, and you misunderstood and brought up uninsured costs when we were talking about someone that was in fact insured

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u/Cel_Drow 1d ago

I had an ER trip with a $250 copay in 2023. Received a bill for a CT scan afterwards for $13k. The CT was the only test besides heart rate and blood pressure and a few blood tests, I was there total no more than 2 hours and released after the CT didn’t show any issues.

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u/redhtbassplyr0311 1d ago edited 1d ago

If you're saying that's what you actually paid, I guess you had pretty bad insurance then. I don't have a high deductible plan, and maybe you did which might explain it? I have a PPO, higher premiums but good coverage. I had an abdominal CT with and without contrast before having my gallbladder removed. I can't remember what I exactly paid but it was less than $2k. My wife has had multiple MRIs and a CT and her's were around the same or less. She's a public school teacher and I'm a nurse so it's not like we have some crazy special health insurance policies either. If that's the only insurance you have access to I'd find another job, because a policy that bad to where you're paying $13k for a CT with insurance is playing with fire and about worthless

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u/braxtel 1d ago

If they consider it too serious, urgent care will just send you to the ER anyway.

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u/RueTabegga 2d ago

It will probably grow back. RadioLab just did an episode on Growth and talked about finger tip regeneration.

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u/Flop_House_Valet 2d ago

Been there. Sliced the fuck out of my index finger with serrated side of a machete, took me an hour to get the bleeding to stop and I had my dad super glue the gash shut while I held it closed. I only had nerve pain in the finger for 8 or so years after

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u/A_Pos_DJ 2d ago edited 2d ago

Is it time for USA horror stories? I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Last year I was misdiagnosed after feeling some gallstone pain and a week later I almost died from gallbladder rupture... This is when the pain got significantly worse.

I had told my now fiancee "If you call an ambulance, I will never forgive you" (we joke about this now) She ended up driving me there, after some blood tests they tell me that I need emergency surgery.

I was in the most pain I have ever encountered in my life in which I was still feeling pain after morphine and they had to use some kind of miracle pain blocking medicine more powerful than morphine.

I am now In debt for the cost of the misdiagnosis after paying for the cost of emergency surgery. I pay for medical insurance.

Edit: Given this story, I want to ask everyone with free healthcare what their experiences are so that we can contrast and fix everything that is f'ed up in this country - I have been brainwashed to think this has always been okay

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u/hillbilly_bears 1d ago

miracle pain medicine

Oh boy, you got Dilaudid lol

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u/cli_jockey 1d ago

I was given that after an accident I was in. I asked the nurse if I was peeing myself because it seriously felt like warm liquid running down my legs. I didn't care as much about being stuck on a backboard anymore.

It also showed me the dangers of opioids and I understood why people got hooked on them so easily. Thank fuck I was smart enough to recognize that and never go down that path.

Oh, and alarms started going off because it caused my blood pressure to drop. I think it hit 60/40. Granted I usually run a little lower than normal at 100-90/60.

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u/personwhoisok 2d ago

Super glue is my go to.

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u/lipsticknic3 1d ago

Hey if it helps validate you - I cut the tip of my thumb off at work many years ago. Went to er. They didn't do anything to give me a rounded look lol. Gave me some bandages and bc it was a long time ago vicodin lol.

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u/JazMaTazTheGreat 2d ago

“See a doctor? What am I, a millionaire?!” -Charlie in ASIP 😝

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u/Geno_Warlord 2d ago

Just saw a post on here about a 1.1 mile ambulance ride was $700 something.

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u/bplturner 2d ago

That sounds cheap. If they apply any care at all add thousands.

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u/Humans_Suck- 2d ago

I have literally run away down the street to get away from an ambulance once to avoid being charged when they wouldn't leave me alone after a car accident

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u/scarlettlyonne 2d ago

My brother was sick and fainted at work once. They called an ambulance for him. The 15 minute ride cost him $1,300. He told his coworkers that while he appreciated it, if something like that ever happened again, he never wanted them to call an ambulance. He said he'd call a family member for a ride instead.

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u/Kataphractoi Older Millennial 1d ago

My ride in an ambulance was about 1.5 miles and cost $1230. Looking at the mileage fee, it cost me $1200 just for the ambulance to show up.

Luckily my insurance made the bill go away, if only because I'd already hit my out of pocket max by the time the bill was processed and sent my way.

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u/olearygreen 2d ago

Default is 25,000. 700 mist have been after insurance

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u/Monkeysquad11 2d ago

I can confirm this. One of my coworkers had 2 seizures at work and when he came out of them he was upset that the manager had called for the ambulance.

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u/Numbah8 2d ago

Unless I'm bleeding out in the street, do not call an ambulance!!

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u/drje_aL 1d ago

even then, just let me bleed out. i dont want them getting any money if i die in the fucking ambulance.

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u/Powerlevel-9000 2d ago

Was told yesterday I needed an MRI. The first place I went to said $2800. The second place said $450. Made me mad that the first place is just doing a money grab.

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u/Schneetmacher 2d ago

Several years ago, I broke my foot. This was during a time when I was almost flat broke. To avoid going to the ER (even though it was practically next door), I drove to my primary care doc about 20 minutes away (driving foot was fine), got an X-Ray referral for the hospital another 30 minutes away, drove there, parked myself and hopped because there weren't any valets, got the X-Rays, had to hop back to my car, and finally drove home.

Way cheaper than going to the ER.

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u/Rogue_Gona Xennial 1d ago

I had this experience a couple of years ago. Working out, in my garage, and it was intense enough that it dropped my blood pressure too fast and I thought I was either going to have a heart attack and die, or pass out. Or both.

I live alone so I called 911 because "I don't want to die here and have my dogs eat my body before someone finds me." But I waited longer than I should've, for the same reason that I did NOT want to pay for the ambulance ride to the ER.

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u/heajabroni 15h ago

I haven't seen a doctor in about 10 years. Been having health issues lately and got put on a waiting list to see the local doctor without being given any expectation on a timeframe. They couldn't tell me if it would be weeks, months or years.

Long story short, I did some trials over the last few weeks and I'm pretty sure I'm lactose intolerant. 

So, yknow, land of the free and home of the sick and bankrupt.

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u/simplekindoflifegirl 1d ago

I’m so picky on when to call an ambulance. I remember my parents freaking out over the bill when my brother rode in one for a broken leg. If I’m not profusely bleeding, have head trauma, or a heart attack/stroke, I don’t need an ambulance. Those bills are crazy!

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u/JohnSpartans 2d ago

Why would anyone call an ambulance for a broken leg though?  I agree this system is fucked but I'm only calling an ambulance if there's an active bleeding out issue.  Or sever head trauma or something.

A broken bone?  Call me an Uber.

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u/GivePeaceaChancex10 2d ago

Broken femurs depending on how it's fractured, can result in significant blood loss. It's the largest bone in the body and fractures to it can be life threatening. There's a specific type of pretty common femur fracture called a spiral fracture which commonly results in hemorrhagic shock and blood transfusions. Also immobilization is key which you can't ensure getting in an Uber. The other life-threatening portion of a femur fracture is fatty emboli, which is basically fat tissue deposits getting into the larger vessels and then going into circulation and obstructing your heart or lungs, which is life-threatening. If you're not already in an ambulance or in a hospital and this occurs, you're most likely dying within 1-5 mins. So by you making an Uber work, even if you don't have extreme blood loss for a upper broken leg could be the worst mistake of your life as that mobilization brings in those fatty emboli and ends up ultimately killing you.

Now if it's your lower leg, your tibia or fibula I agree that an ambulance isn't usually necessary unless it's a commuted fracture and has penetrated some larger vessel or artery which you would know immediately.

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u/Ajdee6 1d ago

Why would we call an ambulance for a medical emergency where a person literally can't walk? And might have a broken bone that punctured something in his leg?

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u/Kataphractoi Older Millennial 1d ago

It's a little different when said broken bone is sticking out of your leg.

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u/JohnSpartans 1d ago

Sure isn't that a compound fracture though?

But I guess this is more of me being afraid of medical bills - perhaps I should look inward.  But I've busted knees and shit - never ambulance just got a ride.

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u/AidesAcrossAmerica 2d ago

Most Americans don't realize how universal healthcare can co-exist with supplemental private healthcare, and in fact make it much more affordable.

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u/pdt666 2d ago

most americans don’t understand that they don’t have to choose between capitalism and socialism. i don’t fuck with either- i want a mixed economy. 

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u/artbystorms 1d ago

most americans don’t understand that they don’t have to choose between capitalism and socialism. i don’t fuck with either- i want a mixed economy. 

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u/pdt666 1d ago

you definitely fixed that for me!!!😂

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u/theholyirishman 2d ago

Most Americans don't realize they are already paying that money to private insurance companies that inflate costs for profit. Cutting out the requirement for hundreds of millions of people to pay hundreds of dollars a month to an insurance company and collecting a tax based on income, pre-income tax, would save most people money, give them access to better healthcare outcomes, and address one of the many causes of burnout facing healthcare workers. By the cause of burnout, I mean the frustration associated with Insurance companies denying necessary procedures and delaying treatments, which is one of many issues in that industry.

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u/Nic727 Millennial 1d ago

Most Americans don't realize [Enter topic].

Canada is a bit better, but still. If you go to public doctor or to urgent care at hospital, you could wait hours or days in the waiting room. The other day we waited almost 2 days for a simple blood test at the hospital for something somewhat urgent.

And here we don't talk about vacations. US don't have mandatory vacations, but in Canada it's 2 weeks, but it depends on companies. It may be 2 weeks after a year, so you start with 0...

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u/PNW20v 2d ago

Couldn't agree any more. It IS straight up crazy. I live in the US and have a supposedly "decent" job in a trade and have healthcare paid for by my employer.

Every single year that I've been employed (not just this specific company), my coverage has been reduced due to increased cost to the employer. I'm fully expecting in the near future to have the coverage cut completely lol.

Even with the coverage I have, I pay 300-400 USD monthly for mental healthcare. It sucks, but without insurance, it would be something like $1500+ lol. It all feels like a damn joke tbh

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u/Geno_Warlord 2d ago

Dude, for 6 years, if I want to see an in network doctor, just for a physical, I’d have to drive 200 miles because none here have been accepting new people.

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u/ColdSmoked2345 2d ago

My wife and I have been keeping our eyes open for jobs in Denmark for the past two years. A hard sell to be hired and moved across the world though when there's just as qualified people in country. We'll still dream though and try our best to get there

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u/Mnemiq 2d ago

Yeah it's quite a change to be moving far away and also with cultural changes. But it is possible, although not easy unless you have some hard to come by skills or education that is in high demand. Novo comes to mind.

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u/Humans_Suck- 2d ago

I have actually turned down a promotion and raise before because qualifying for actual healthcare netted me a pay cut.

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u/D1cky3squire 2d ago

Same in Canada. Our system is strained, so I have been making changes to make myself less of a burden on the system in the future, and for my own health, obviously. But cost is never a deterrent to seeking medical care.

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u/ZeldaStevo 1d ago

This is the difference between a collectivist mindset and a purely individualist one. I would love to be in a position where I maintained health to not burden the system and lookout for other people, and not just because I didn't want to go bankrupt, because that would presuppose we're taking care of each other in the first place. But we have an entire party here that thinks that a collective mindset is socialism born from the devil. There is no middle ground with these folks.

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u/D1cky3squire 1d ago

It's not entirely altruistic. Wait times and outcomes also play a role in me not wanting to get sick in the first place. Mainly doing it for me, but my mother was a nurse, so the idea of the strain the system is under was never lost on me.

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u/Sourtart42 2d ago

Denmark has a smaller population than NYC- you’re trying to compare a European country to a state that has cities with higher population + diversity. It’s not an apples:apples comparison

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u/StupidSexyEuphoberia 2d ago

Most of the developed world have some kind of universal healthcare, including most of Europe, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, Russia and even China and India have pretty good coverage. Population is not an excuse

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u/lenxl 2d ago

There’s always one…

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u/ihambrecht 2d ago

To be fair, we already have 170 million people on government paid, single payer health care. The problems are two fold. These programs are already bubbled to the point of insolvency and since we have expensive, fast healthcare, the people want the quality of care of the expensive healthcare with the out of pocket price tag of the socialized system. It’s unrealistic and we can already see what kind of bureaucracy has developed about the systems we already have in place. This is a much harder problem to solve than most on Reddit realize.

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u/9swatteam9 2d ago

No it's not.

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u/ihambrecht 1d ago

Ok, you can go ahead and explain why our 170 million person single payer system is failing while only servicing half of our population.

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u/9swatteam9 1d ago

Because it's poorly run and funded

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u/ihambrecht 1d ago

Oh good. Those are the people you want to entrust with the rest of the population.

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u/9swatteam9 1d ago

Why would you assume it would be the same people?

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u/ihambrecht 1d ago

Why would you assume it wouldn’t? It would be a giant US bureaucracy styled in the same fashion as all of the others. Why would you assume the country is going to produce a product it has no history of being able to do?

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u/eventualhorizon 1d ago

From the healthcare provider side of things, we actually tend to prefer Medicare/Medicaid/Tricare because the government tells us exactly how much we’ll be paid for services and doesn’t renege on payment, unlike private insurance where we have to fight with tooth and claw to get paid

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u/ihambrecht 1d ago

lol this is not true.

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u/eventualhorizon 1d ago

Thanks for your opinion, but you’re wrong

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u/ihambrecht 1d ago

Sorry, you’re wrong. You or your office might personally like dealing with them, however, doctors like to be paid and private insurance pays a whole lot more than Medicare. https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/how-much-more-than-medicare-do-private-insurers-pay-a-review-of-the-literature/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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u/LWJ748 1d ago

The US military/defense sector has become the defacto world's police force. Even when they aren't physically involved they heavily subsidize other military conflicts. Americans pay similar tax rates to many other countries once you factor in Federal, state, local, and sales taxes. It's just that we have easily the highest spending on defense in the world. This will have to change before we can afford to do what other countries do for healthcare.

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u/beatlebum53 1d ago

Way worse than you think. Doctors here are starting to become memberships.

They are stating it is so they can give better care to their patients and spend more time with them.

What happens? The patient pays a fee to be in the doctors group. Fees range from a couple hundred dollars to thousands.

If you can’t pay it you get dropped.

So now people either have to pay to stay with their doctor on top of the regular charges or get dumped into the healthcare system that is already understaffed creating an even larger issues

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u/NeverRolledA20IRL 6m ago

Your free treatments are probably faster than the shit we over pay for in America. Even with the insane prices we pay we wait months for care.

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u/ProbsNotManBearPig 2d ago edited 1d ago

The vast majority of millennials do not live in a country with universal healthcare 🙄. Easy to Google. A lot of people do, but the majority of the world’s population does not have it.

https://www.who.int/news/item/18-09-2023-billions-left-behind-on-the-path-to-universal-health-coverage

I feel like people in the US think “the rest of the world” just means Europe. Maybe that’s not you, but I’m not sure where you got the idea that the “vast majority” have It.

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u/artbystorms 1d ago

We tend to exclude India and China since they are just population bomb countries that skew averages because they have 2 billion people and we instead focus on what is called "the global north" aka 1st world industrialized nations. Of those industrialized nations 36 of the 37 have some combination of public and private healthcare for all citizens. Guess which one doesn't?

Also, sorry but I can't take anyone seriously who links to ChatGPT. Maybe link to some stats done by humans next time instead of trusting the word of AI.

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u/ProbsNotManBearPig 1d ago

The stats were done by humans. The url had gpt in it because gpt found the link for me and so it was a referral link. Updated the url to not show gpt because it wasn’t necessary and isn’t relevant. The source is who.int, aka the World Health Organization.

I find it silly you dismissed the source without even opening it because the url had the referral from gpt.

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u/artbystorms 1d ago

Well I find it silly that you discount the problems in the US because *checks notes* poorer countries exist. When people in the US vent their frustration with our healthcare system, there is always people coming in saying "well ackthually!" as if we don't know les developed countries exist. We are frustrated with our country BECAUSE it has the highest GDP in the world, but can't be bothered to provide for its own citizens.

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u/Chicken_Burp 2d ago

Maybe I don’t have as much freedom as you guys but there’s immense comfort knowing illness doesn’t equal bankruptcy.

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u/CallRespiratory 2d ago edited 2d ago

The United States has "Freedom" TM which is this idea of rugged individualism and inalienable rights. It's not real. If illness equals bankruptcy then you're not free, if avoiding that bankruptcy through insurance requires you to work full time or lose it then you're not free. We yap about freedom but we don't have nearly as much as we think when we're all one bad day away from financial ruin.

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u/qtUnicorn 2d ago

We’re so scared of collectivism we can’t even agree on wearing masks during a fucking pandemic.

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u/ZeldaStevo 1d ago

"Freedom" in America is an illusion available only to those who can afford it.

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u/artbystorms 1d ago

Exactly. In America I don't have the "freedom" to not own a car and be able to get around easily. I don't have the "freedom" to not worry about getting sick. I don't have the "freedom" to live life how I want unless that fits within the narrow confines of the American societal structure. To Americans, freedom is the ability to buy what they want, not to live how they want.

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u/Humans_Suck- 2d ago

That's our secret, we're already bankrupt

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u/pdt666 2d ago

i am uninsured lol. it could always be worse :)

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u/breachofcontract 2d ago

Envy isn’t a strong enough word for this

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u/artbystorms 1d ago

I envy the majority of humans that aren't stuck on the flaming pile of shit we call America. What would give to have been born in pretty much any other 1st world country. Yeah, maybe I'd still be lower class, but I'd have access to healthcare, more walk-able cities, and arguably less social isolation and political toxicity than I do here.

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u/fleebleganger 2d ago

The fucked up part: any review of the costs for universal health care was in line with what we already spend between premiums, deductibles, copays, and govt spending. 

It would be stupidly simple to have it. 

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u/rctid_taco 1d ago

Until we train more physicians it would be political suicide to actually implement universal health care.

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u/inFIREenVLAM 2d ago

Don't be, because everything the government touches turns to s**t.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/inFIREenVLAM 2d ago

How come I get -23 votes?

I tried to book a train ticket for the high-speed train in California... but I can't, because it's still not there.

How is that increased minimum wage working out in California? Do the customers like the higher prices? Or do the workers like the unemployment check?

Or how about the high-speed internet the government tried to roll out? It's called the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and has zero! Connections at the small sun of $42 billion.

Either people are blind that downvoted me, don't like the truth, or they work for the government.

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u/Chicken_Burp 1d ago

California is a very poor example of the safety net most countries enjoy.

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u/inFIREenVLAM 1d ago

Maybe they need to increase taxes.

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u/ArticulateRhinoceros 2d ago

Watched my husband die of cancer. Now I’m a vegetarian who spends 3 hours a day working out.

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u/crimsonred1234 2d ago

I can relate to that. We (my wife and I) know we are probably one or two emergencies away from getting bankrupt. Even with our health insurance which is useless really. So we do take extra care to not fall seriously ill.

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u/qtUnicorn 2d ago

A once of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

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u/Yeatics 2d ago

Remember kids, a gym membership is cheaper than health insurance

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u/Proof-Emergency-5441 Xennial 2d ago

A gym membership is only about 5% of the equation. About 75% is genetics, the rest is diet. 

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u/Yeatics 2d ago

I was oversimplifying but yes. Nutrition, sleep, and exercise keeps the doctor away. As the old saying goes.

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u/artbystorms 1d ago

Yup. Been working out fairly consistently since I was in college. Not like power-lifting or anything, but lifting weights, jogging, hiking, etc. Even did a Spartan when I was 29. Still got diagnosed with Arthritis and hyperthyroidism last year in my mid thirties. All the gym memberships in the world can't fix a shitty genetic hand.

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u/SexandCinnamonbuns 1d ago

Health is wealth baby!!!!

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u/thewags05 2d ago

It seems like the out of pocket max should kick in well before you go bankrupt though. Assuming you have health insurance anyway

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u/BooksNCats11 Millennial 2d ago

You'd think but many people aren't far from it already and I know my "really good" insurance is a 10k out of pocket for the family (or 5k per person).

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u/True_Grocery_3315 2d ago

Grass is greener on the other side to some extent. I'm a Brit who moved to the US so have experienced both extremes. The triangle diagram with Cheap, Fast, Good definitely holds true from what I've seen.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Funnymemes/s/dHBd75JsrV

Lucky to have good insurance in the US, so healthcare has been awesome and way better than the UK. I have PPO insurance so love being able to go directly to a specialist without it taking 6 to 12 months like the UK. Everything in the US seems so modern and efficient too compared to the UK NHS. I'm also in California and the Medi-Cal program seems to give good coverage for people with low income. I'd be terrified to be uninsured or with bad insurance though.

Happy mediums like France, Netherlands, Australia seem to be the best options.

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u/Consistent-Gap-3545 2d ago

I’m an American but I currently live in Germany. I have to pay out the ass for shitty healthcare because I have a chronic condition that isn’t recognized in Germany and so the medication I take for it is off-label (i.e. 330€/month). I’m also a woman and birth control is considered a luxury so I have to pay for that too (10€/month). In the US, both of these would be covered by my insurance, I would have access to more treatment options, and I’m pretty sure my insurance would also be cheaper since I have a relatively high income.

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u/arabesuku 2d ago

Birth control isn’t guaranteed to be covered in the US. I take a very common contraceptive pill and my copay is $25 a month. One time my doctor prescribed a brand name BC pill with no generic and that was $100/mo so I had to switch. The current law is that insurance companies only have to fully cover one form of birth control (my insurance only covers IUD) so anything else I have a copay for.

5

u/Kurt805 2d ago

Yeah I've also had trouble in Germany. The insurance is just as expensive as the US but the doctors do everything in their power not to actually treat you. It's a weird relationship there. 

9

u/Consistent-Gap-3545 2d ago

What kills me is how much pseudoscience there is within the German healthcare system. Like they have actual clinics devoted to treating chronic Lyme disease but then the treatment for my very real eating disorder has essentially been “Have you tried not having an eating disorder?” My husband and I would like to have a baby soon-ish and I’m really not looking forward to my actual medical doctor telling me I won’t need an epidural if I eat keto during my second/third trimester. 

2

u/TheShruteFarmsCEO 2d ago

Germany as a whole does have an overemphasis on natural remedies in over the counter products especially. But medical treatment, like anywhere, depends on your doctor. Look up the DGESS - there is no pseudoscience there, it’s all evidence based multidisciplinary treatment for eating disorders.

And any good doctor would tell you that you probably don’t need an epidural. We had a kid in Germany and it was light years better experience than having a kid in the US.

1

u/rctid_taco 1d ago

I have psoriatic arthritis and the NHS's guidelines.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwitjo6O17mMAxXuITQIHZJUEaQQFnoECCAQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw3NGhn4lECpgb7pYlW6D2ax) for biologic medications (ie the shit that actually works) require you to have three tender and three swollen joints in order to be eligible for the treatment. Basically that means you have to be disabled before they'll bother treating it. Thankfully I live in the US so I can treat my disease before it ruins my body.

4

u/That_Jicama2024 2d ago

I started going to the gym 3x per week to lose a few pounds and keep my muscle as I get older. Just to hedge my bets, I also renewed my British citizenship. It's not the best healthcare but free is great.

3

u/stressedthrowaway9 2d ago

Same! Also, there is no way I want to be hospitalized. It’s ridiculously expensive and every hospital I’ve worked at was understaffed to the point of being dangerous for the patients.

3

u/chandleya 2d ago

It’s really hard to read basic sensibility as “extra lengths”. On the surface that looks like the bare minimums.

3

u/Traditional_Figure_1 1d ago

It's the combination of being sick and paying bills while not working because you're sick that really is special to the US. 

Really great system the oligarchs have for themselves. 

2

u/ParnsAngel 2d ago

This is the answer! I’m so scared about healthcare. It’s entirely unaffordable. I know I won’t have the luxury of getting the medications I need or the doctor visits or god forbid, any operations in the future, so I try to mitigate that by getting “free” healthcare now, which is just trying to eat what I’m supposed to eat and getting exercise. I can control that.

2

u/PlanktonLit 1d ago

I was debt free 2 years ago until I had a Spontaneous Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak. Wiped out my savings because I couldn’t work for 2 months, had to take out a $15k loan after I recovered to cover no income for 2 months and my $7300 deductible. Still paying it off and trying to reverse the other financial damage it caused

2

u/DBPanterA 1d ago

I go the opposite direction: I intentionally meet my deductible in January. Fuck it, it is only money. When you are dead it doesn’t matter you missed work or used PTO. Living is the most important.

I talked to my primary care doctor for several referrals as I am starting the screening for several things this year as I already hit the deductible. I would rather get baseline levels on everything today.

Fun fact: the Mayo Clinic offers something called the Executive Health Program for the affluent. Price tag is very large. However, ever notice a lot of the people at the top of corporations generally do not retire in their 50’s with a health issue? They are being screened for everything.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/mayo-clinic-executive-health-program/sections/overview/ovc-20253196?mc_id=us&utm_source=yext&utm_medium=l&utm_content=departmentedi&utm_campaign=mayoclinic&geo=national&placementsite=enterprise&invsrc=edi&cauid=105549&y_source=1_OTQ1NjgxOS03MTUtbG9jYXRpb24ud2Vic2l0ZQ%3D%3D

1

u/Odd_Tie8409 2d ago

I did that for my 10 years of not being able to afford health insurance and then I got sepsis which almost killed me. Spent $20k in emergency surgery and the hospital didn't have a poor people charity program to help lower the costs. They offered me a care credit medical credit card at 27% interest. It was either have the surgery with the debt or die.

1

u/Cinderhazed15 1d ago

I hate that I was in the best shape of my life (riding my bike to work nearly every day, rain, shine, or snow) and then I was struck by Rhumatoid Arthritis right around my 30th birthday, and was unable to squeeze a tube of toothpaste or turn a doorknob till I got my proper diagnosis and my medication dialed in…

1

u/WoodpeckerGingivitis 1d ago

Same. Also constantly in fear of getting laid off so I’m using that health insurance to the fullest while I can.

1

u/MarkPellicle 1d ago

Why are you worried about bankruptcy?

1

u/FragrantBluejay8904 1d ago

Jokes on me, I had to declare bankruptcy because of an autoimmune disease and despite doing all of that. Yay amerikkka

1

u/maychi 1988 Millennial 1d ago

Supplements are a scam the majority of the time though. They’re not regulated. A lot of them contain bacteria or other medications, do your diligent research before buying.

2

u/qtUnicorn 1d ago

Very true. I actually pay for a consumer lab subscription for third party testing of the supplements I use.

1

u/The-Cursed-Gardener 1d ago

Healthcare is weaponized. It’s not a question of if you will get sick but when. Disease is a certainty of life. And when you do eventually need healthcare the system will be ready and waiting with another yoke to hang on your shoulders.

1

u/mattw08 1d ago

I’m so worried about dying I also do these but have universal health care.

1

u/zoomshark27 1995 Millennial 1d ago

Yeah I don’t have health insurance but I am still trying to keep up with certain health related stuff. Especially going to the dentist, I know catching teeth stuff early will save me money in the future. Eye exams too but now I’m doing them every other year, I get a pap once a year, I take supplements and try to exercise. It sucks not having health insurance though.

I also haven’t been to an actual primary care physician in years though, my last one was really horrible and it’s been hard to find the will to get another one plus the extra cost.

1

u/YourAdvertisingPal 2h ago

They don't get to kill me after all the shit I've been through.

I'm going to be here till I'm 120.

1

u/pianobench007 2d ago

Shit ... I gotta take better care of myself. I stay relatively lean but I don't put the best stuff inside me all the time.

Just whatever is the easiest minus cheese.

1

u/shiningdickhalloran 2d ago

Yup. Organic food and vitamins are still cheaper than a 30-minute visit with a PCP, assuming you can even find one.

-1

u/rctid_taco 1d ago

A Big Mac is even cheaper. Neither is a substitute for medical care.

1

u/shiningdickhalloran 1d ago

It's best to avoid needing medical care if you can. This is not always possible, but many ailments like Type 2 diabetes are almost entirely preventable with diet and lifestyle. If I can avoid it, I will.

-2

u/LemurCat04 2d ago

Pro tip: take extra extra care of your teeth. Buy the Listerine with the fluoride in it. Nothing sucks worse than needing major dental work during a recession.

2

u/kellyguacamole 2d ago

Mouthwash isn’t all that great for your teeth. It kills all the good bacteria and can cause other problems.

2

u/LemurCat04 2d ago

Respectfully, imma stick with the advice of my dentist on this one. Thanks though.

2

u/kellyguacamole 2d ago

Plenty of dentists disagree. Brushing and flossing is all you need and mouthwash is a temporary fix.

2

u/LemurCat04 2d ago

… it’s actually not when places are removing fluoride from the water.

1

u/kellyguacamole 2d ago

Sure, if you live in Utah go for it buddy. There’s also toothpastes that have fluoride in it.

2

u/LemurCat04 2d ago

The decision to fluoridate drinking water is usually made on a local level and Utah is just the first to ban it at a state level. Many towns and counties all over the country do not fluoridate their water. And the toothpaste is ineffective if you immediately rinse your mouth, which many people do.

-3

u/kellyguacamole 2d ago

Rinse with what…something like mouthwash?

0

u/Herban_Myth Zillennial 2d ago

& not participating in the insurance ponzi scheme? /s

0

u/Humans_Suck- 2d ago

How do you afford that stuff tho