this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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there are countries where people save for their retirement (and pay for health insurance) in pesos, rands and whatnot.. alot of people outside of the us and the developed world are one cancer away from bankruptcy, and thus, death is a way less painful exit. people in the phillipines earn 233$ on average per month, can their health system afford melanoma treatement for everyone ? i doubt so. is it worth to spend all ur life's effort on one random drug ? .. americans (and all developed world citizens) need to be less centric really..
Cancer treatment is not that expensive depending on the cancer people actually have. It really depends on what people have, but in places like India treatment starts at $1000 and averages $6000 or so. In Indonesia 77% of people diagnosed with breast cancer survive the next five years for example.
Obviously a cancer diagnosis sucks and in many cases like lung cancer you very likely die soon(so do not smoke), with or without treatment. Even when you can afford it, it might be a good choice to avoid the pain of the treatment and just go for it. However the situation is not one of you get sick and you die even in poor countries.
I understand that different countries are different. If cancer is going to be a financial disaster at 70, it will also be a financial disaster at 50.
And you may have missed my point. My point was that debilitating health problems after 60 are not the norm, but the exception. Now that I'm past 60, I'm more likely to make it to 90 than I was at any other time in my past. And that same statement has been true for all of human existence! The life expectancy numbers we are most familiar with are almost exclusively the result of how we deal with infant mortality, pediatric illness, and the behaviors of adolescents. The first 20-30 years are far more risky than the last 20-30.
Not only that, if suicide is the painless way out, at least wait until the onset of pain!