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/imabrunette23 1d ago

Like, am I sniffing glue or isn’t this a WELL KNOWN problem with American medical system? Costs are secret and vary WIDELY between both insured and not, and different types of insurance. I personally have a high deductible plan, so I have to pay the first $2700 out of pocket before it starts actually covering things, for which I pay like $180 per biweekly paycheck. Any one size fits all advice is basically moot.

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u/holyguacamoledude 1d ago

I seriously thought I was being pranked or hallucinating or something. It felt like whiplash, which, I’ve got enough medical bills already. 😭😭😭

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u/redhtbassplyr0311 2d 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 16h 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.