#healthcare payment system

[runawaymun]

.

[grimsleys-gambit]

I'm still here. Don't worry. It just feels like every bone in my body crumbled to dust.

Its fine.

Absooolutely fine.

i"M FINNNNE. ASK ME ANYTHING! - Grimsley

[oranges-are-rad]

“U eat like u have a healthcare system”…do people outside America actually think no one here can afford a hospital? I’m not defending how ungodly expensive our insurance and medical care prices are, but I’m sick of people thinking no one has insurance and access to a hospital. I’ve had insurance my whole life through my parents, and we were nowhere near rich. All my friends have insurance, all my extended family has insurance, and again, none of them are anywhere near rich.

“Americans believe in big portions! That’s so crazy.” Look at this European getting scammed into paying for 100 calories worth of food. Fool. Idiot. You wish you could have this 16 ounce Big Gulp and this serving of rice I will eat off for three days but you can’t. Cope and seethe.

[cupcakestreets]

I just can not catch a break...

[anviamhealthcare]

Anviam Healthcare is a USA Based Medical Billing Organization that helps Healthcare Providers, such as Doctors, Hospitals, Clinics, and other Medical Facilities, to efficiently manage their Medical Billing and Claims Processing. Anviam Healthcare follow all these steps for payment posting workflow:

1. Receive payments:

Payments are received from insurance companies, patients, and other third-party payers.

2. Match payments to claims:

Payments are matched to the appropriate claims.

3. Verify payment amounts:

Payment amounts are verified to ensure that they match the amounts expected.

4. Post payments:

Payments are posted to the appropriate accounts and charges.

5. Reconcile discrepancies:

Any discrepancies are reconciled.

For More Info:-

you can visit: Anviam Healthcare

Contact us :

📞 +1-9175252370

📩 info@anviamhealthcare.com

🌐 www.anviamhealthcare.com

[eharmony-official]

FEILD TRIP!!!!!!!!

(I promise it’s ok it’s been happening for years and I’m still kicking >:D my body cannot control ME)

@basically-bumble @officialtinder @incognito-mode-official @spotify-kids-real @wordswordsorswordswords @chaos-in-gv-anon @yes-im-youtube-kids @cars-official

We’re going to the hospital, do you guys want anything??? I’m snagging the free lollipops they normally reserve for kids :D

I love when I'm using my lungs for their intended purpose and they just start randomly bleeding

Mmmm my favorite

[rachvictor05]

A comprehensive overview of Healthcare Payment Systems

In today's complex world of healthcare, one crucial component that is sometimes forgotten is the healthcare payment system. This complex network of processes and technologies is critical to ensure that healthcare providers receive timely and accurate reimbursement for their services. Understanding the complexities of healthcare payment systems is critical for healthcare professionals, administrators, and patients since they affect healthcare service delivery and cost.

Healthcare payment systems handle a wide range of tasks, including billing, reimbursement, and financial management. At their core, these systems are designed to facilitate the transfer of funds between patients, insurance companies, and healthcare providers. However, the difficulties of healthcare payment processing vary widely depending on factors such as insurance coverage, government regulations, and the type of healthcare service being provided.

One of the most difficult difficulties in healthcare payment processing is assuring accuracy and efficiency. Given the vast volume of transactions in the healthcare industry, even tiny errors or delays can have serious effects. Healthcare providers use sophisticated billing and coding systems to accurately document and submit claims for reimbursement. However, negotiating the complexities of insurance coverage and reimbursement requirements can be difficult, resulting in significant disparities and disagreements.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week

1. ‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power

Greetings, readers! Welcome to our weekly dose of positivity and good vibes. In this edition, I've gathered a collection of uplifting stories that will surely bring a smile to your face. From scientific breakthroughs to environmental initiatives and heartwarming achievements, I've got it all covered.

In May, a team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst published a paper declaring they had successfully generated a small but continuous electric current from humidity in the air. They’ve come a long way since then. The result is a thin grey disc measuring 4cm across.

One of these devices can generate a relatively modest 1.5 volts and 10 milliamps. However, 20,000 of them stacked, could generate 10 kilowatt hours of energy a day – roughly the consumption of an average UK household. Even more impressive: they plan to have a prototype ready for demonstration in 2024.

2. Empty Office Buildings Are Being Turned Into Vertical Farms

Empty office buildings are being repurposed into vertical farms, such as Area 2 Farms in Arlington, Virginia. With the decline in office usage due to the Covid-19 pandemic, municipalities are seeking ways to fill vacant spaces.

Vertical farming systems like Silo and AgriPlay's modular growth systems offer efficient and adaptable solutions for converting office buildings into agricultural spaces. These initiatives not only address food insecurity but also provide economic opportunities, green jobs, and fresh produce to local communities, transforming urban centers in the process.

3. Biden-Harris Administration to Provide 804,000 Borrowers with $39 Billion in Automatic Loan Forgiveness as a Result of Fixes to Income Driven Repayment Plans

The Department of Education in the United States has announced that over 804,000 borrowers will have $39 billion in Federal student loans automatically discharged. This is part of the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to fix historical failures in the administration of the student loan program and ensure accurate counting of monthly payments towards loan forgiveness.

The Department aims to correct the system and provide borrowers with the forgiveness they deserve, leveling the playing field in higher education. This announcement adds to the Administration's efforts, which have already approved over $116.6 billion in student loan forgiveness for more than 3.4 million borrowers.

4. F.D.A. Approves First U.S. Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill

The move could significantly expand access to contraception. The pill is expected to be available in early 2024.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a birth control pill to be sold without a prescription for the first time in the United States, a milestone that could significantly expand access to contraception. The medication, called Opill, will become the most effective birth control method available over the counter

5. AIDS can be ended by 2030 with investments in prevention and treatment, UN says

It is possible to end AIDS by 2030 if countries demonstrate the political will to invest in prevention and treatment and adopt non-discriminatory laws, the United Nations said on Thursday.

In 2022, an estimated 39 million people around the world were living with HIV, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations AIDS program. HIV can progress to AIDS if left untreated.

6. Conjoined twins released from Texas Children’s Hospital after successfully separated in complex surgery

Conjoined twins are finally going home after the pair was safely separated during a complex surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital in June.

Ella Grace and Eliza Faith Fuller were in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for over four months after their birth on March 1. A large team of healthcare workers took six hours to complete the surgery on June 14. Seven surgeons, four anesthesiologists, four surgical nurses and two surgical technicians assisted with the procedure.

7. From villains to valued: Canadians show overwhelming support for wolves

Despite their record in popular culture, according to a recent survey, seven in 10 Canadians say they have a “very positive” view of the iconic predators. 

Here's a fascinating video about how wolves changed Yellowstone nat'l park:

----

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation:

Support this newsletter ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog.

[covid-safer-hotties]

9 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID as Summer Wave Surges - Published Aug 19, 2024

The answer "damn near everywhere people go" may shock you.

COVID’s surge shows no sign of slowing down as the biggest summer wave in two years continues. In fact, COVID levels are “very high” in 27 states, according to the CDC’s wastewater data. “Currently, the COVID-19 wastewater viral activity level is very high nationally, with the highest levels in the Western US region,” Dr. Jonathan Yoder, deputy director of the CDC’s Wastewater Surveillance Program, said to CNN. “This year’s COVID-19 wave is coming earlier than last year, which occurred in late August/early September.” Fortunately, death rates and hospitalization rates are nothing like they were during previous waves due to greater immunity and vaccines. But catching COVID still comes with risks, including LONG COVID, which can result in chronic, debilitating illness. So how do you stay safe? Use caution before entering these nine places you’re most likely to catch COVID now, as the summer wave surges.

Crowded indoor events COVID spreads primarily through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, or breathes, especially in close-contact settings or poorly ventilated areas. “People who are higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19 should consider taking extra precautions for the next few weeks, like limiting time in crowded indoor settings or wearing a mask in crowded indoor settings. People rarely get COVID-19 outdoors, so outdoor events remain quite safe,” say the experts at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

Airports, airplanes and public transportation Given the COVID rates right now, the CDC urges travelers to “get up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before you travel and take steps to protect yourself and others. Consider wearing a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor areas, including on public transportation and in transportation hubs. Take additional precautions if you were recently exposed to a person with COVID-19. Don’t travel while sick.” They go even further for certain folks: “If you have a weakened immune system or are at increased risk for severe disease, talk to a healthcare professional before you decide to travel. If you travel, take multiple prevention steps to provide additional layers of protection from COVID-19, even if you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines. These include improving ventilation and spending more time outdoors, avoiding sick people, getting tested for COVID-19 if you develop symptoms, staying home if you have or think you have COVID-19, and seeking treatment if you have COVID-19.”

Shopping malls Studies are just now coming out with an analysis of what happened during the height of the pandemic. Although times are different now, these results can be instructive. For example, one study published in April 2024 “examines the transmission of COVID-19 through casual contact in retail stores using data from Denmark. By matching card payment data with COVID-19 test results, researchers tracked over 100,000 instances where infected individuals made purchases in stores. They found that customers exposed to an infected person in the same store within a 5-minute window had a significantly higher infection rate in the following week. The study concludes that retail store transmissions contributed notably to the spread of COVID-19, particularly during the period when the Omicron variant was dominant.”

Religious gatherings The transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus during religious events has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a communal gathering in which people, well, commune. “The smallest SARS-CoV-2 droplets can remain airborne and travel farther than six feet. The scientific community does not agree upon what is a ‘safe distance,’ but standing near an infectious person is riskier than standing farther away,” says the AMA. Additionally, “the amount of virus a person is exposed to can influence the chance of infection and the severity; consequently, staying in one place for a longer time creates a higher risk of infection.”

Movie theaters The box office is back, as hits like Deadpool & Wolverine, It Ends With Us, and Alien: Romulus pack them in after a few dark pandemic years of low attendance, the rare Barbenheimer proving the exception to the rule. For movie buffs, it’s a thrill. But check your theater’s ventilation before lining up around the block. One study published this year “investigates the risk factors for COVID-19 transmission during an outbreak in a movie theater in Incheon, South Korea, in November 2021. It involved 48 confirmed cases, primarily among theater attendees, with a high attack rate of 84.8% during one screening. The study found that inadequate ventilation and close proximity among audience members were key contributors to the spread of the virus despite most attendees being fully vaccinated. The study emphasizes the importance of proper ventilation in enclosed spaces like theaters to prevent airborne transmission of COVID-19.”

Healthcare facilities “Some hospitals across the United States are reinstating indoor masking rules amid rising cases and hospitalizations of respiratory illnesses including COVID-19 and influenza,” reported ABC News earlier this year. "Ultimately, health systems, hospitals, places that deliver care are going to see some of the most vulnerable and at-risk individuals -- many, with underlying conditions," Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor, told the network. "Those are especially the places where we want to protect individuals, and so when we have this rapid rise in respiratory illness, those are going to be the first places to try to use measures to reduce chances of transmission, both to protect patients, those receiving care, as well as workforce."

Gyms and fitness studios Common sense will tell you transmission of an airborne disease may increase the more frequently people breathe in and out—as you might do at the gym. One “study looked at the number of aerosol particles 16 people exhaled at rest and during workouts. These tiny bits of airborne matter — measuring barely a few hundred micrometers in diameter, or about the width of a strand of hair, and suspended in mist from our lungs — can transmit coronavirus if someone is infected, ferrying the virus lightly through the air from one pair of lungs to another,” reported the New York Times during the pandemic. “The study found that, at rest, the men and women breathed out about 500 particles per minute. But when they exercised, that total soared 132-fold, topping out above 76,000 particles per minute, on average, during the most strenuous exertion.”

Bars and Nightclubs Just when some of us wanted to drink the most, bars were verboten during the height of the pandemic. There was a good reason to use caution. One study published last year “analyzed over 44,000 COVID-19 cases in Tokyo in 2020, focusing on transmission in various settings, including healthcare and nightlife venues like bars and nightclubs. It found that nightlife settings were more likely to involve clusters of five or more infections and were more likely to lead to further spread compared to other settings. The highest case-fatality rate was observed in healthcare settings. The findings suggest that targeting interventions in nightlife venues could be crucial for controlling COVID-19 transmission, especially during the early stages of an outbreak.”

Restaurants and cafés Last year, the Washington Post asked virus experts if they’d eat in restaurants. Joanna Dolgoff, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, offered an answer that may be a decent North Star for you today. “At this time, I will continue to eat in restaurants as long as they are well-ventilated and not overly crowded. If somebody near me shows signs of illness, I will be prepared to leave immediately. If covid cases continue to spike and if illness becomes more severe, I will stop eating inside restaurants until cases subside,” she said.

[mariacallous]

Oulu is five hours north from Helsinki by train and a good deal colder and darker each winter than the Finnish capital. From November to March its 220,000 residents are lucky to see daylight for a couple of hours a day and temperatures can reach the minus 30s. However, this is not the reason I sense a darkening of the Finnish dream that brought me here six years ago.

In 2018, moving to Finland seemed like a no-brainer. One year earlier I had met my Finnish partner while working away in Oulu. My adopted home of Italy, where I had lived for 10 years, had recently elected a coalition government with the far-right Matteo Salvini as interior minister, while my native UK had voted for Brexit. Given Finland’s status as a beacon of progressive values, I boarded a plane, leaving my lecturing job and friends behind.

Things have gone well. My partner and I both have stable teaching contracts, me at a university where my mostly Finnish colleagues are on the whole friendlier than the taciturn cliche that persists of Finns (and which stands in puzzling contradiction to their status as the world’s happiest people).

Notwithstanding this, I feel a sense of unease as Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo’s rightwing coalition government has set about slashing welfare and capping public sector pay. Even on two teachers’ salaries my partner and I have felt the sting of inflation as goods have increased by 20% in three years. With beer now costing €8 or more in a city centre pub, going out becomes an ever rarer expense.

Those worse off than us face food scarcity. A survey conducted by the National Institute for Health and Welfare found 25% of students struggling to afford food, while reductions in housing benefit mean tenants are being forced to move or absorb the shortfall in rent payments. There are concerns that many unemployed young people could become homeless.

Healthcare is faring little better. Finland’s two-tier system means that while civil servants and local government employees (including teachers) paradoxically enjoy private health cover, many other people face long waiting lists. Not having dental cover on my university’s plan, I called for a public dental appointment in April. I was put on callback and received a text message stating I’d be contacted when the waiting list reopened. Six months later, I am still waiting. A few years ago I could expect to wait two months at most.

The current government, formed by Orpo’s National Coalition party (NCP) last year in coalition with the far-right Finns party, the Swedish People’s party of Finland and the Christian Democrats, has been described as “the most rightwing” Finland has ever seen – a position it appears to relish.

Deputy prime minister and finance minister Riikka Purra – the Finns’ party leader – has been linked to racist and sometimes violent comments made online back in 2008. The party’s xenophobia is clearly influencing policymaking and affecting migrants. As a foreigner, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to feeling a certain chill as anti-immigrant rhetoric ramps up.

A survey by the organisation Specialists in Finland last year found that most highly qualified workers would consider leaving Finland if the government’s planned tightening of visa requirements went ahead (that proposal, which extended residence time required for Finnish citizenship from four to as many as eight years has now become law). Luckily, I am a permanent resident under the Brexit agreement.

With the coalition intent on ending Finland’s long history of welfarism in just one term, there is a risk (and hope among progressives) that it may go too far, inviting a backlash. We arguably saw signs of this in the European election in the summer, when Li Andersson won the highest number of votes for an EU election candidate in Finland. Andersson, who was education minister in Sanna Marin’s former centre-left coalition government (which lost to the NCP in April 2023), ran on a progressive red-green ticket of increased wealth equality and measures to tackle the climate crisis. She has also been critical of emergency laws blocking asylum seekers from crossing Finland’s eastern border, arguing that it contravenes human rights obligations.

Andersson’s party, the Left Alliance, chose a new leader this month, the charismatic feminist author Minja Koskela, who was elected to Helsinki’s council in 2021 after a period as secretary of the Feminist party, and as a member of parliament in 2023. Koskela argues: “People are widely frustrated with the government’s discriminatory policy and cuts to culture, social and health services, education and people’s livelihood. It is possible to turn this frustration into action.” (Full disclosure: I’m a member of the party and have helped coordinate its local approach to immigrants.)

It remains to be seen if she can build on Andersson’s EU success. Although the popular media-savvy figure appears to relish the challenge of turning the party into an election winner, Koskela faces a huge challenge. The party struggles to poll at more than 10% nationally, aside from a brief high of 11% in July. A place in government is nonetheless possible. But Marin’s Social Democratic party (SDP) of Finland (now led by Antti Lindtman), has topped the national opinion polls 12 out of 14 times since April 2023.

Meanwhile, the Finns party is polling at 16%, down from the 20.1% vote they gained in the election. These figures point to one thing: another possible SDP-led coalition government in the next parliament by the summer of 2027. This would probably include the Left Alliance and the Green League, among others. And such a coalition would aim to undo a lot of the damage done by the right.

But until then, there will be more damage to come. So while there is clearly hope for an end in sight to the country’s political darkness three years hence, this will bring little solace now to poor people, migrants, and the squeezed middle class as the long Finnish winter closes in.

[macgyvermedical]

Do you think (the change in) healthcare laws in America could affect other countries and their healthcare policies. Considering how in the past American policies, research, ethics, medical curriculum etc has influenced how other countries form their policies, medical curriculum ect.

The main changes to American healthcare policy is that it would return control of the payment system entirely to private entities, functionally outlaw abortion, limit access to birth control, and functionally outlaw LGBTQ+ healthcare.

If you're thinking European countries, as far as I know they're pretty proud of their healthcare payment systems and that probably wouldn't change that just because the US's payment systems got worse. However, some European countries are becoming more conservative and other healthcare choices (such as what might be covered under a universal healthcare model) might be in danger if officials feel they can be more open about their conservative views.

If you're talking about healthcare in countries that accept/rely on US aid, they will likely change- at least when it comes to abortion. Project 2025 explicitly states that any country receiving aid from the US will lose it if they perform legal abortions in their country.

[genderkoolaid]

For the experiences with exorsexism: I can't change my gender marker to X because I risk not being able to receive my SSI payments or at least having a harder time getting them because of the way Social Security handles gender markers. That's on top of just the simple risk of being discriminated against by them for being nonbinary+disabled (and especially disabled in part by mental illness).

It's always the disability benefits. Can't get married, can't save money even if I was receiving enough to save, can't receive an actually survivable let alone liveable amount of benefits, can't expect the system not to be borderline genocidal but because I'm being given anything at all asking for decency is "entitlement", can't change my gender marker to be accurate.

Oh, and if even the safe states become too dangerous for trans people in the US, my partner and I can't ever emigrate to a safer country because our autism diagnoses alone would bar us entry, let alone being on benefits. That's more of a general ableism/transphobia intersection but like... we could die because of it, so worth mentioning.

Anonymous asked: When having an “X” gender marker, insurance loves to deny coverage on any “male exclusive” OR “female exclusive” healthcare, including pap smears, prostate exams, even mammograms. No matter what your body has, insurance companies seem to believe non-binary means that you no longer have genitals, hormones, or breast tissue.

Grouping these two together since they mention the same issue; its very emblematic of how we approach trans inclusion that we have started allowing people to be legally X on paper, but we haven't actually done any work to change our systems to recognize that these people Have Body Parts and Can Be Disabled

Thank you for sharing.

[maaarine]

‘I was only a child’: Greenlandic women tell of trauma of forced contraception (Miranda Bryant, The Guardian, March 29 2024)

"Hedvig Frederiksen had been at her new school in Paamiut, Greenland, for only a couple of days when she was summoned from her dorm to the local hospital by a Danish caretaker.

She was 14 and had no idea what was going on.

“But back then [1974], when a Danish person said something, their word was law, you had to listen to them,” said Frederiksen, speaking from her home in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.

About a dozen girls went to the hospital, some as young as 13.

One by one they went into the doctor’s room and one by one they came out crying. Frederiksen was terrified but felt compelled to stay put.

Her daughter Aviaja Fontain told the story as Frederiksen quietly wept.

“When she came in [to the doctor’s room], her memory just disappears and she thinks it’s because of the trauma, what happened in there.

Her friend from the same dorm said the doctor didn’t have a helper; he was alone putting spirals [contraceptive coils] inside girls.”

Frederiksen, now 63, is one of 143 Greenlandic women who this month announced they were suing the Danish state, demanding a collective payment of close to 43m Danish kroner (£4.9m) for what they describe as a violation of their human rights.

They accuse Danish doctors of fitting girls as young as 12 with intrauterine devices (IUDs) in an attempt to reduce the population of the former colony, now an autonomous Danish territory.

It is believed that 4,500 women and girls were affected between 1966 and 1970, with many more procedures carried out without consent in subsequent decades, but it has taken a long time for the reports to surface – and to be taken seriously. (…)

After a visit last year, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, Francisco Calí Tzay, highlighted the scandal as a particularly disturbing element of Denmark’s colonial legacy, condemning the structural and systemic racial discrimination inflicted on Greenland’s Inuit people and its ongoing repercussions.

“Despite significant progress, the Inuit people still face barriers to fully enjoying their human rights in both Denmark and Greenland,” Calí Tzay said, adding that he was “particularly appalled” by the testimonies of women forcibly fitted with IUDs.

Greenland ceased being a Danish colony in 1953, although it did not have its own government and parliament until 1979.

Healthcare and living conditions improved, life expectancy increased and the Greenlandic population grew.

It was then that the Danish authorities are believed to have staged their drastic intervention.

The programme of involuntary birth control would go on to halve the birthrate within a few years. (…)

She remembers the cold tools he used to insert the IUD, the shock she felt and “tremendous pain”.

She said he told her that the reason it was being fitted was “so I shouldn’t get pregnant”. “I was only a child,” she said.

“I was only 14. And when I was back at the dorm I cried in the evening because I couldn’t talk with my parents and I hadn’t given any consent, nor did my parents.”

Contraceptive coils are now a safe and highly effective form of birth control.

But Larsen, like many of the women who have come forward since the 60s and 70s, went on to experience serious reproductive difficulties – a consequence, they say, of being forcibly fitted, with no consent or information, with unsophisticated devices that were often too big for their young bodies, bringing with them additional risk of infection.

For Larsen, that experience felt like an assault. She was in so much pain that “afterwards I felt like I had shattered glass in my abdomen”.

Later, after she got married and tried to get pregnant, she found that she could not.

Years later when she was examined at a hospital, they found her fallopian tubes were closed because of the coil, which had caused severe bleeding and left her sterile. (…)

After being fitted with the coil, Frederiksen remembers, she was in a huge amount of pain.

All the girls walked back to their dorms crying and feeling ashamed, she said, and they started getting extremely painful periods.

The coil remained inside her for eight or nine years because the doctor did not tell her when it should be removed.

After having it taken out she became pregnant with Aviaja, but the next time she became pregnant her fallopian tube ruptured and she lost a lot of blood.

Her lawyer has said this is a common side-effect in women who were forcibly fitted with coils. Many years later, Frederiksen had two more children.

While she is happy about the legal case and the support they have received, she is filled with anger and sadness when looking back on what she endured as such a young child.

“If that had not happened to me, I wouldn’t be as shy and ashamed for many years,” she said. “And if that had not happened, my life could have been very different.”"

[froody]

Where I’m from the real estate is completely, suspiciously cheap. You can get a cute move in ready (but dated) 2 bed 1 bath starter home on a .6 acre lot for $34k That’s a monthly payment around $300. If you’re renting, your option is usually a trailer but then again, a 3 bed 2 bath trailer with a lovely view rarely has rent that rarely exceeds $300 a month. The county that I’m from is beautiful. I mean, it’s flat, there are a lot of cotton fields but there are a lot of old growth pine forests and many great fishing spots, beautiful and clean rivers and lakes. There are also many historical sites. About 16,000 people live here and we’ve been hemorrhaging residents since our population peaked in 1950 with almost 30,000 residents. It’s a large county. Sparsely populated now.

You’re thinking “wow, why is the real estate so cheap? why doesn’t anyone want to live there?” I can tell you why. Around 11% of people live under the poverty line in the US. In my county, around 30% live under the poverty line. There are no resources. There is no hospital in my county and depending on what side of the county to reside in, the nearest one is usually over an hour away. The school system sucks. There are no jobs. Industry died, that drove away many people. As the population wanes, the need for jobs in human facing jobs like retail and teaching also dies. Every bright and beautiful soul born here desperately wants to escape. You have to leave home if you want an education, if you want a living wage, if you want access to quality healthcare, hell, you have to drive to a city if you want to buy clothes.

This is a Black majority county and it has been historically. So many of the ways it’s been squeezed dry are the result of racism. The people here are great. We’re neighborly but not overly so, keep to our own business but we’ll make small talk at the grocery store. We’ll help you if your car breaks down. We’ll invite you in for dinner. This place is beautiful. It’s lovely. And you can’t stay. And that’s the saddest part.

[catboybiologist]

hi, i have one like, question for you regarding transgender healthcare. beacause. like there are people to whom dysphoria brings immense distress/unhappiness, and any healthcare system should absolutely take care of that, for free.

but theres also people who dont feel that strongly about gender and or dont experience dyphoria, but still prefer getting/removing their tits/penis/vagina. and thats also okay, like, infromed consent and all. but im not sure where the line should be on what we (as in, taxpayer) actually pay for. like, idk, i dont have a strongly formed oppinion on this. so id like to hear yours

I know you're not from the US, but unfortunately my perspective on this will have to be amerocentric because that's my experience- so I'll talk about that perspective first, and then try to generalize it.

The American healthcare system is so wasteful in how it bars people from procedures its insane. More money is spent figuring out how to reject people from receiving monetary payments for healthcare than would be spent if you just approved the overwhelming majority of them. And this isn't even considering other ludicrously wasteful forms of spending the US government does, like the insane portion of our defense budget that just disappears into thin air every year.

So how much additional burden should the taxpayer pay? Ideally, none, because any significant reform of the healthcare system would make all of these questions moot.

But, not every country is in this situation. And there is still a question embedded in here- what is the line of providing medical care from the government/taxpayer? I don't have personal experience with it, but this is exactly what countries with socialized healthcare deal with all the time, well beyond just gender affirming care. I tried to make the parallel with abortion because its a similar category of thing. Let's call it like... "semi-elective" procedures- medical procedures with the potential to significantly improve someone's quality of life, but won't kill or severely incapacitate them if they don't get the procedure, leaving it up to them to decide whether the medical context for the procedure fits for them (I'm NOT trying to lessen how life changing these procedures are, I'm calling them 'semi-elective' as a way of denoting that two people faced with the same situation can make different decisions about it based on their personal considerations). This can apply to a lot of things, some of them almost entirely cosmetic- surgeries to mitigate a mild disability, breast implants for cancer patients after a masectomy, procedures for conditions like cleft lip, facial reconstruction after severe injury, and on and on. To me, gender affirming care falls in this category- its not cancer treatment, but it is life changing in an overwhelmingly positive way.

In my mind, it should be the priority of any government to prioritize and expand the healthcare they're able to provide, including for these semi-elective procedures. Many wealthy, developed nations have the ability to cover most or all of these kinds of procedures, even though they're entirely "elective". But yes, budget and resource concerns are very real in many places, so yes, priorities do have to be made on a national scale. This is a very delicate and interesting question, actually, and there is a lot of room for well-intentioned debate on it.

But I'm not going to answer it.

Because I think you should ask yourself something.

Why is this a question so frequently applied to gender affirming treatments, yet rarely, if ever, applied to any of the other procedures I listed above? I'm not jumping on you, because you asked a genuine question, and I'm glad you asked it. I'm speaking to anyone reading this, not just you, because this exact thing is so frequently brought up when discussing gender affirming care. And that's a double standard through and through- there's no way around that.