Therefore, I’d assume that the decision that it’s not worth doing the examination should take priority over the numerical estimate that he made up after you asked.
It seemed to me that the proposition was made under false assumptions. Specifically, I value my life way more than most people do, and I value the costs of time/money/pain less than most people do. He seemed to have been assuming that I value these things in a similar way to most people.
But people tend to avoid this sort of discussion because it is very emotionally-loaded. So we mainly mumble around the topic.
Yeah, I understand this now. Previously I hadn’t thought enough about it. So given that I am willing to spend money for my health, and that I can’t count on doctors to presume that, it seems like I should make that clear to them so they can give me more personalized advice.
Specifically, I value my life way more than most people do, and I value the costs of time/money/pain less than most people do. He seemed to have been assuming that I value these things in a similar way to most people.
How do you know? Because you do things like flossing every day?
Healthcare economics quite frequently mean that a person prefers to pay more rather than less to signal to themselves that they do everything in their power to stay alive.
People quite frequently make bad health decisions because buying an expensive treatment feels like they do something to stay healthy will it’s much more difficult emotionally to do nothing.
I understand that for a lot of people, the X isn’t about Y thing applies. That investing in health might be about signaling to oneself/others something. But I assure you that I genuinely do care. Maximizing expected utility is a big part of how I make decisions, and I think that things that reduce the chances of dying have very large expected utilities (given the magnitude of death). That said, I’m definitely not perfect. I ate pizza for lunch today :/
So given that I am willing to spend money for my health, and that I can’t count on doctors to presume that, it seems like I should make that clear to them so they can give me more personalized advice.
“Willing to spend money” meaning that you’re willing to pay out of pocket for medical procedures? Or that you are willing to fight your insurance so that it pays for things it doesn’t think necessary?
And doctors are supposed to ignore money costs when recommending treatment (or lack of it) anyway. If you want “extra attention”, I suspect that you would need to proactively ask for things. For example, you can start by doing a comprehensive blood screen—and I do mean comprehensive—including a variety of hormones, a metals panel, a cytokine panel, markers for inflammation, thryroid, liver, etc. etc. You will have to ask for it, assuming you’re reasonably healthy a normal doctor would not prescribe it “just so”.
I’m willing to spend out of pocket. More generally, I value my life a lot, and so I’m willing to undergo costs in proportion to how much I value my life.
I’m willing to undergo costs in proportion to how much I value my life.
You’re constrained by the size of your pocket :-) Being willing to spend millions on saving one’s life is not particularly relevant if you current bank balance is $5.17.
Very rich people can (and do) hire personal doctors. That, however, has its own failure modes (see Michael Jackson).
Yeah, I know. It’s just hard to be more specific than that. I guess what I mean is that I am willing to spend a much larger portion of my money on health than most people are.
It seemed to me that the proposition was made under false assumptions. Specifically, I value my life way more than most people do, and I value the costs of time/money/pain less than most people do. He seemed to have been assuming that I value these things in a similar way to most people.
Yeah, I understand this now. Previously I hadn’t thought enough about it. So given that I am willing to spend money for my health, and that I can’t count on doctors to presume that, it seems like I should make that clear to them so they can give me more personalized advice.
How do you know? Because you do things like flossing every day? Healthcare economics quite frequently mean that a person prefers to pay more rather than less to signal to themselves that they do everything in their power to stay alive.
People quite frequently make bad health decisions because buying an expensive treatment feels like they do something to stay healthy will it’s much more difficult emotionally to do nothing.
I understand that for a lot of people, the X isn’t about Y thing applies. That investing in health might be about signaling to oneself/others something. But I assure you that I genuinely do care. Maximizing expected utility is a big part of how I make decisions, and I think that things that reduce the chances of dying have very large expected utilities (given the magnitude of death). That said, I’m definitely not perfect. I ate pizza for lunch today :/
“Willing to spend money” meaning that you’re willing to pay out of pocket for medical procedures? Or that you are willing to fight your insurance so that it pays for things it doesn’t think necessary?
And doctors are supposed to ignore money costs when recommending treatment (or lack of it) anyway. If you want “extra attention”, I suspect that you would need to proactively ask for things. For example, you can start by doing a comprehensive blood screen—and I do mean comprehensive—including a variety of hormones, a metals panel, a cytokine panel, markers for inflammation, thryroid, liver, etc. etc. You will have to ask for it, assuming you’re reasonably healthy a normal doctor would not prescribe it “just so”.
I’m willing to spend out of pocket. More generally, I value my life a lot, and so I’m willing to undergo costs in proportion to how much I value my life.
You’re constrained by the size of your pocket :-) Being willing to spend millions on saving one’s life is not particularly relevant if you current bank balance is $5.17.
Very rich people can (and do) hire personal doctors. That, however, has its own failure modes (see Michael Jackson).
Yeah, I know. It’s just hard to be more specific than that. I guess what I mean is that I am willing to spend a much larger portion of my money on health than most people are.
Is that a revealed preference? ;-)