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An unprecedented window into how diseases take hold years before symptoms appear

(www.bloomberg.com)
202 points helsinkiandrew | 2 comments | 18 Jul 25 08:55 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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findthewords ◴[22 Jul 25 09:57 UTC] No.44645035[source]▶
Preventative treatment for disease is ten, hundred, thousand times cheaper than treatment ex post facto.
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fxtentacle ◴[22 Jul 25 10:00 UTC] No.44645054[source]▶
Only if you have an excellent health insurance plan. Otherwise, preventive treatment costs you money, while curative treatment is paid for you.

Sounds like a misguided incentive ...

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DarmokJalad1701 ◴[22 Jul 25 11:22 UTC] No.44645536[source]▶
My insurance covers annual bloodwork/physicals as well as immunizations. I am pretty sure most health insurance policies do.
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Aurornis ◴[22 Jul 25 12:59 UTC] No.44646332[source]▶
The ACA made this standard. It’s been like this for a long time.

When we were hiring a lot of people out of college, I spent way more time than I expected teaching them about how healthcare works and how to find their own information. We found that a lot of them would build their idea about how health insurance works from years of reading Reddit posts: They thought visiting the doctor was always going to be a $1000 bill or a single accident was going to medically bankrupt them, because those are the stories they saw on Reddit. I would explain things like the free annual physical and many just wouldn’t believe me. It’s really tough to cut through the confusion out there.

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1. hattmall ◴[22 Jul 25 14:35 UTC] No.44647431[source]▶
But if they do anything other than extremely basic tests, like blood pressure at the "free annual physical" you will be billed, ridiculous amounts you have no way of knowing in advance.
replies(1): >>44652522 #
2. jerlam ◴[22 Jul 25 20:20 UTC] No.44652522[source]▶
During these "free" preventative checkups, if your doctor asks if you have any other medical issues to discuss, having an answer other than "no" can change the visit from a free preventative visit into a standard non-free office visit.