Healthcare USA #1

Yeah, I don’t disagree with that. That just seems like a different problem from the one he was talking about.

Thug 1 : Give me a million dollars or I’ll kill you.

Thug 2 : Hey give me 50 grand and I’ll talk him down to half a million.

Both : Thanks for your loyal custom. See you again next year.

The stimulant shortage isn’t really a healthcare issue, it’s more the DEA imposing super strict new rules that are hard to see as anything other than trying to create a shortage. It’s drug war shit.

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So, Biden could probably end it ~next month with a phone call and then take legitimate credit for it?

Tax filings with respect to HSA disbursements are just an honor system (with some super remote chance of a random audit), so not sure I see the point.

I’m not sure if I had a cogent point. Just had rage from starting to fill out the income section of my taxes and was surprised in an angerful way that an HSA disbursement would be included. I shortly there after learned that it would not be included. I guess my point was not just about HSAs but the tax implications of medical expenses in general and that if there was single-payer then anything medical related wouldn’t need to be investigated by the IRS. I’m assuming one way the wealthy avoid taxes is by claiming larger than actual medical expenses. I’ve calmed down.

Can’t do it. Norms.

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They do a lot of shady shit, but I don’t think they do this. The biggest hurdle is that you can’t deduct until you exceed 7.5 % AGI. That’s a lot of medical bills for a rich person who presumably has insurance.

The HSA “scam” is really just that rich people can afford to take full advantage of an HSA, and not rich people can’t. To use the HSA for maximum benefit, you don’t actually use it for medical expenses. You just pay with non-HSA money and keep the receipt. Meanwhile, your HSA money is growing tax free. In the distant future you can make a withdrawal and you won’t pay tax for it because you are just reimbursing yourself from before (that’s why you have to keep the receipts).

So if you can afford to do this (you also need to be able to afford the swongs of an HDHP), you have a nice account that is pretax, grows tax free, and can eventually be withdrawn tax-free for the most part (presumably when you get very old, you’ll have a lot of medical expenses if you don’t have enough spending earlier in you life).

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Cost plus pharmacist

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$2400 out of my pocket to have an x-ray and MRI on my wrist, lol America. No wonder people don’t go to the doctor.

HDHP?

If so, that’s part of the game.

Yup, also had about $3500 in expenses in December (ambulance and ER) so a solid 6 months here.

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Well, not great, but you can’t get richer on one end and then complain about the known costs on the other end.

It doesn’t sound like you’re actually complaining though, so I think you understand the game for what it is.

For years, much of the medical establishment has downplayed or outright dismissed the idea of chronic Lyme disease, for which there is no definitive diagnostic test or treatment. Kim Lewis, a biology professor at Northeastern University who researches Lyme disease, thinks that’s because the medical system isn’t comfortable with uncertainty. “It is much easier, psychologically, to conclude that chronic Lyme doesn’t exist” than to say that it does but no one knows what to do about it, Lewis says. “The best way to solve a problem is to announce that it doesn’t exist.”

I cannot emphasize enough, chronic Lyme groups are pieces of shit with nothing to back them and they caused a lot of harm 10 or so years ago when it was last a fad. There’s almost certainly some sort of longer time scale of a Lyme infection, but the chronic Lyme people go way beyond that and blame everything on Lyme. Hell this woman had a literal diagnosed autoimmune disorder (MS) and they go on to blame Lyme disease for her symptoms based on… what’s likely an antibody test that’s not sensitive or specific and also can just be the result of a prior infection.

My wife and I got mixed up with them for a bit when she got diagnosed with Lyme carditis and joint issues, we thought it could be a cool support group of people who had similar experiences. It was decidedly not that, and I saw some horrific uses of antibiotics on people for nonsense.

There was some partner on America Ninja Warrior that had this story too. Those doctors almost killed her.

You sure that’s all? Last time I had a MRI it seems everyone involved is a private contractor so don’t be surprised to get a separate bill from the janitor who turned the lights on that morning.

https://x.com/AndrewPolino/status/1792450812456972709

https://x.com/AndrewPolino/status/1792450817947320566

https://x.com/AndrewPolino/status/1792450823727042760

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Yeah, I saw that post too, and I see some red flags about the story.

The biggest one is that patients don’t just get discharged from OB offices willy nilly. The fact that they don’t give the reason why they were discharged from a practice is a big red flag. What was the ‘1st pretext’ exactly? How in the world could that have ‘blacklisted’ her from all OBs in network?

That’s either made up, or they did something really fucking awful imo. I highly doubt a group of OBs banned someone from their entire practice lightly. Possible I guess, but would guess a lot of other things first.

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Looks like you didnt mean to reply to me but glad you did.

Been on for about a month. Still some muscle pain but not as bad as when I was first taking it. Some chest pain daily but ive had that for years. Likely has to do with energy drinks. I quit for a while and that mostly subsided, but have been back on lately. Gonna try to come off them again soon.

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I thought I was replying to an old message and got confused, glad it’s not too bad. You will be happy when you get your next blood results I think.