Biologically male procedures only. EDIT: If the two people who downvoted this question could explain their reasoning, I would be super interested. No judgements. This is a safe space!
Do you snore? Get a sleep study and a CPAP - thats pricy! Need a colonoscopy? Gel shots in your knees? Any family histories that would warrant testing for cancer markers?
Just had Inspire surgery. How do you think I hit my maxes lol! What I do think I have also is arthritis.
I was curious so I looked up the inspire website… this has got to be the best accidentally hilarious medical video I have ever seen:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BOnZjPD6n5Q
Who directed this monstrosity!?
I only made it to the 0:28 mark. That may have been the worst “acting” I have ever seen.
I don’t know what’s covered under US “healthcare”, and I think it also depends on your age. Probably should talk to your doctor and ask them. Maybe a bunch of blood tests, dental work, cancer screenings, prostate check, colonoscopy, and upper endoscopy.
Unfortunately, dental is typically separate from health care in the US. (It’s stupid).
This isn’t always the case, technically. Dental can be considered for normal health insurance if it’s directly impacting your health (like an emergency surgery). That being said, your insurance may fight the shit out of this and will still most likely require you to list your dental insurance as the primary for billing.
I work in American healthcare. Your doctor is actually one of the worst people to ask about coverage.
Unfortunately, the only solid way to be 100% sure of coverage is to call your insurance company and make them guarantee your planned procedures in writing. Every doctors office has a department to deal with insurance—after you talk to the insurance company you will want to talk to the insurance department at the doctors office and give them the written statement from the insurance company.
After your procedures, your bill will be processed by a medical coder at the doctors office, and a clearing house coder who gets things ready for your insurance company, before it potentially gets double checked again by coders who actually work for the insurance company. Those people will not have any clue about the arrangement made prior to your procedure, and this is the series of steps where something might happen that would cause your insurance company to not pay.
If you did your due diligence and got everything in writing beforehand, then the insurance company will kick the bill back to the doctor, at which point it will be reviewed by a payment specialist who will be able to see and use the written commitment to force the insurance company to process the bill.
This whole process takes anywhere from weeks to months, so you may not know there is a problem until a while after your appointment.
Welcome to American healthcare. Good luck getting whatever you can.
Do you have any persistent pain or discomfort when doing things? Get that checked out.
Another +1 for colonoscopy.
Also if there’s a family history of anything nasty, see if there’s a test for it my maybe? (E.g. heart attacks, get blood work done for cholesterol).
Get a full physical including blood work.
Fun fact: for people over 45, colonoscopy screening for cancer is always free. If your insurance tries to make you pay for it, report them to your state insurance commissioner or the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. ACA made a lot of preventative medicine & screenings free.
in my experience the first one was free. the followup a few months later wasn’t.
This is the perfect opportunity to recreationally infect yourself with rare short term diseases. Try breaking your arm or nose so you have a story. Self harm has never been so cheap.
Edit: See evasive_chimpanzee’s comment here, as the following seems to be incorrect information
Seriously though get checked for prostate cancer. Especially if you’re over 25 it’s very possible and catching it early will be a massive difference.
Same for everyone reading this. I doubt it’s that expensive so please look into it and get checked if affordable where you are.
Checking for prostate cancer is super easy now and doesn’t even require a finger in your bum. It’s a simple blood test that is far more accurate than the traditional manual method. I get one done every time I have a physical since they just add it on to the other stuff they check my blood for.
I was actually told by my doctor that unless you have a history of colon or prostate cancers in the family, advisory boards are pushing testing to past 40.
Idk. When I worked oncology all our prostate patients were very young men way before 40.
But thats anecdotal. I don’t have any numbers. But whats the worst thing that can happen when you get a prostate check? That they don’t find anything?
I mean the downsides are basically cost, another stick/blood draw, potential for false positive and further anxiety/testing. No weigh-in on whether or not any individual should at any specific time, but even less-invasive screenings are not zero risk.
Excerpt from the US Preventative Task Force about prostate cancer screening:
“An elevated PSA level may be caused by prostate cancer but can also be caused by other conditions, including an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia) and inflammation of the prostate (prostatitis). Some men without prostate cancer may therefore have positive screening results (ie, “false-positive” results). Men with a positive PSA test result may undergo a transrectal ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy of the prostate to diagnose prostate cancer.”
I would talk to your doctor about it for your case specifically rather than advocating broadly for prostate cancer screenings.
Huh, I’m always happy to proven wrong. thank you for bringing this up.
Is this still relevant however with blood testing becoming more prevelant? The main reasons listed are due to harms caused by probing both physical and psychological along with false positives which out-weigh the positives of a 0.128% life saving outcome. It’s been 6, nearly 7 years now and prostate testing is both more accurate and non-invasive
Either way, this body is currently in the final research plan stage of updating the recommendation.
https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/draft-update-summary/prostate-cancer-screening-adults
I’d agree we should stand by the current assessment though until it changes. Thank you for the correction
I have no clue, it’s just something I’ve read about a little. It’s definitely not my area of expertise, so take this with a grain of salt.
From what I understand, prostate cancer is usually very slow, and it’s possible to have a little spot of it for years that doesn’t affect you. For some people, the right answer to finding a prostate tumor is to just monitor it, but obviously, people freak out when they have cancer, and want treatment. Cancer treatments are all no joke, so it seems that you could sacrifice a lot to treat something that would have just chilled there not hurting you.
I have no clue about the blood tests. If it’s like a “yes or no” for prostate cancer, it might have that same disadvantage. If it tells the Dr something more like type of prostate cancer or growth, it’s a different story.
Find a excuse to get physical therapy.
