AIUI one of the many quirks of the US health insurance system is that a lot of people have only minimal cover which doesn't include things like physiotherapy and rehabilitation treatment. That means that they often can't treat a painful condition at source so their only option is to mask the pain with painkillers.

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alistairSH 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

It's worse than that - there is also no job protection. Hurt yourself and miss a few days of work and you are possibly unemployed on top of injured. And then you lose your health insurance, so you can no longer get/afford any treatment.

I'm convinced it's designed this way on purpose. Can't have people relaxing, ever. Must extract every ounce of productivity and blood while they're alive.

	▲	9x39 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> there is also no job protection https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/health-plans/cobra It’s not perfect, but the US isn’t a perfect union either. Healthcare is usually more of working class concern, or for the working age but unemployed, which is not a small risk … But let’s at least admit where some protections exist.
	▲	ryandrake 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, it's the combined outcome of both of those "features." Many Americans don't have access to healthcare and/or can't afford it even if they have access, AND they are not allowed to stop work to take care of their bodies, it's just a steady stream of painkillers to keep you numb and working until you retire or die.

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vanderZwan 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

This is so absurd to me. The expression "prevention is better than cure" isn't just folk wisdom, in just about any country with nationalized healthcare the studies also confirm that this costs less money. The only exception I ever heard was a Dutch study in the 2000s suggesting that people growing older due to smoking less was going to increase healthcare costs, because people were getting older putting pressure on the pension system, but let's not peer further into that can of worms.

So by all accounts it should be cheaper for for-profit insurance companies too, unless they have ways to externalize the costs onto the rest of society. Which I guess is more circumstantial evidence for how messed up the system must be.

	▲	yonaguska 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> unless they have ways to externalize the costs onto the rest of society UNH stock has been tanked all year, until the govt announced that they would raise Medicare advantage reimbursement rates. The insurance companies have an incentive to pursue volume instead of cutting costs for programs that the government is subsidizing. For everyone else, they just raise the prices which is a much more complicated issue.
	▲	tssva 4 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Nationalized healthcare systems can reap the longterm savings from preventive care. I have had 4 different for profit insurance companies over the last 5 years because of job changes, my employer switching insurance providers and retirement. Such frequent changing of health insurance providers means that there is no guarantee that any insurance company will reap the benefit of providing me with better preventative care than required by law.
	▲	ewzimm 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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