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 every test available for prevention and prophylaxis.
Get your general practitioner to do a full health check, ECG, EEG, cardiac ultrasound, a full blood panel, bloodpressure, pulmonary function, skin cancer prevention ect.
Schedule a gastroscopy and colonoscopy.
Check in with an urologist to get your prostate and urinary tract checked.
If you can, get a full body scan. Either PET or MRI.Nearly every serious disease or health issue is easier prevented or treated when caught before it casues real issues.
Every cancer there is, has a better outcome and is easier treated when found early. Most of them are silent until very late in the game.This is something I would recommend to anyone: Take advantage of every preventative messure or examination that is available to you!
There is no illness that you can detect too early.The kicker is that I just moved here and don’t have a PCP (primary Carter physician) yet. AND my company is switching health plans next year, so I basically need to find someone who takes BOTH health plans.
Omfg, don’t get a PET-scan ‘just because’. You would literally have to be injected with radioactive particles. The other stuff, while not necessary, will atleast not kill you faster.
Last paragraph is also massively oversimplified. Getting a ‘you have cancer’-speech and treatment for a superslow growing prostatecancer will fuck with your mind and body more than the cancer itself. That’s why most health care systems advise against general PSA screening.
Just to provide some data on the radiation dose. It’s everyone’s own decision whether a ‘willy-nilly’ PET scan is worth it.
From the English Wikipedia:
FDG, which is now the standard radiotracer used for PET neuroimaging and cancer patient management, has an effective radiation dose of 14 mSv.
The amount of radiation in FDG is similar to the effective dose of spending one year in the American city of Denver, Colorado (12.4 mSv/year). […T]he whole body occupational dose limit for nuclear energy workers in the US is 50 mSv/year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron_emission_tomography#Safety
From the German Wikipedia:
Es ist bei einer Strahlendosis von 1 Sievert (Sv), der 100 Menschen ausgesetzt sind, mit 5 Todesfällen durch Strahlenkrebs zu rechnen […]. Man müsste also 100.000 PET-Untersuchungen durchführen, um 35 Todesfälle an Strahlenkrebs (nach einer mittleren Latenzzeit von etwa 15 Jahren für Leukämie und etwa 40 Jahren für solide Tumoren) zu verursachen, das heißt etwa eine auf 3000 Untersuchungen
If 100 people received a radiation dose of 1 Sievert (Sv), one would expect 5 deaths due to radiation-induced cancer […]. One would need 100,000 PET scans in order to cause 35 cancer deaths (after a median wait duration of 15 years for leucemia and 40 years for solid tumors), which is about 1 in 3000 scans.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positronen-Emissions-Tomographie#Strahlenexposition
Guess I’ll die
Until the insurance decides they’re not covering it for some reason and OP is stuck with the bill.
When this happened for me, I went and refilled my sumatriptan injections as fast as I could and actually used those for two years afterwards, it did save me money. If you need any extra dermatologist stuff, mental health, physical therapy, do it now.
My wife is there.
She’s gotten two knee replacements this year and is scheduled for a hip replacement before the end of the year. And last night I reminded her she’s been meaning to go to a dermatologist.
Ooh! Dermatologist! That’s a good one!
Here I am with acceptably functional knees and hips. I just can’t win!
Yes but how’s your skin
Well. It covers my body.
You should get a full dermatologist check. Especially if you have ever been sunburned.
Get any suspicious or annoying moles removed and biopsied.
I have 4 friends (granted 50+ years old) who have had skin cancers removed in the last year. Many, many stitches on faces, arms, and necks
Shop around if you don’t like your GP. Tell them your situation and ask them for a referal to every specialist under the sun. Get tested and innoculated for absolutely everything they suggest.
Referrals AND a new patient appointment in less than 3 months? You’re dreaming.
Yea that’s a good point. I guess I’m living in fairy tale land considering meeting mandatory minimum and deductible 🤣 A boy can dream
Fortunately i do not need referrals on my plan. So I can definitely get to the specialists. Ortho and Gastro are first up.
That’s awesome man! I’m sorry for whatever made you hit your out of pocket max but I’m glad you’re planning to take full advantage of this gravy train.
Don’t be sorry at all. It was Inspire surgery, for sleep apnea. Absolutely worth it.
Get prohibitive dental work. My teeth are fucked from no fluoride in the water when I was a kid, so I always have more work needed.
Lol dental work isn’t covered under health insurance. Teeth are luxury bones that only the rich are allowed to keep!
Aw, but all my other bones are so low maintenance.
Emigrate.
To your “edit” point: Don’t take a handful of downvotes personally; it’s pretty easy to do accidentally on mobile so they may have been unintentional
I downvote anyone that whines about or asks why they’re getting downvotes. Otherwise I don’t up/downvote anything at all (except that guy that is posting triangles for upvotes)
Seriously, who cares?
Some people also use downvotes as way to say they dislike something. Unlikely, but some people might be down voting to indicate they don’t like the insurance industry.
To add to that downvotes have no serious negative effect on this platform
In reddit as soon as a few people downloaded you, you disappeared
Here people can brigade you and unless you’re reading top, who cares, your stuff still gets seen.
Oh I know. I am genuinely curious what anyone found so objectionable. They are welcome to their opinion, I’m just very eager to know what it is.
They skimmed your post, read the words “biologically”, “male” and “only” in that order, and it triggered their this-sounds-transphobic reflex.
Don’t worry about it.I mean I won’t say it didn’t, but I didn’t downvote for it because I still have more than one braincell
Colonoscopy!
Dentistry. This shit is always hard to get for free so you should do everything you can.
Not covered by my health insurance, or even most health insurances in the US. We have special horrible dental insurance for that.
Ew, i’m not even surprised, this seems to be trend in all capitalist countries, in Poland dentistry also went to shit after 1989 and even worse after 1999 healthcare reform.
The dental insurance plans available in the US are basically a scam for adults because they have an annual maximum of $1-2k. You have to get a lot of cleanings before you even break even with the premium, and if something major happens you’re basically not even covered.
IMO you may as well just have that $1-2k saved up yourself and pay for your own dental appointments.
Chewing bones and seeing orbs are not covered in US health insurance
Seriously not even eyes?
They have their own, extra shitty, Vision Insurance. It’s really only good for covering your eye exam every year. Now if you need ocular surgery or something, that’s when your health insurance would come into play.
Only a basic exam, no special screening.
I think seeing orbs are still mostly covered for medical issues
Get all your injuries out of the way. Do a bunch of dumb shit to build character
What you mean is, your HMO has had to dust off the “not medically necessary” stamp.
Similar boat. Getting my snoring looked into. Got a sleep study done and now I’m having an ent do a scoping to see what’s actually vibrating and what can be done.
This is a major one!
Sleeping is a third of your day. There’s a lot of health issues that result from bad sleep/snoring. and the worse is that you’ll never even know it.
My wife had a sleep specialist provide helpful strategies after her pregnancy and her back pain stopped.
I tried Cpap and just could not tolerate it. I just got the Inspire surgery last month, which I think is the only other viable option in existence right now.
Mandibular advancement splint is another option.
This is the perfect opportunity to recreationally infect yourself with rare short term diseases. Try breaking your arm or nose you have a story. Self harm has never been so cheap.
Seriously though get checked for prostate cancer. Seriously, 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.
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 correctionI 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.
Not sure if your link is the same as I’ve read, but yes, the thing with prostate cancer is that treatment doesn’t seem to change the outcome.
This is most likely because it usually doesn’t develop until mid-50’s or later, and grows so slowly that it doesn’t have time to kill you.
I think the concern would be it occurring in younger ages, or it growing faster than typical.
So test and monitor is likely a good thing, treatment shouldn’t be a given, unless there are clear signs.
There are primarily 2 stool tests available today, one has significant false positives, the other doesn’t.
I forget the names, or I’d send you a link. It’s been about a year since I looked it up. I know my insurance uses the more accurate one, fortunately.
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.
PSA sucks, it has both low sensitivity and low specificity.
-doesn’t even require a finger in your bum
Then what the heck am I paying these deductibles 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.”
Yeah, as an early 30s AMAB having to go in for annual checkups for insurance, two different doctors told me there really isn’t shit to do for someone my age
Hearing aids.
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.
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.
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.
