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Comment by h2odragon | Hacker News Reader

Can't afford to see a doctor. Last Doctor I did see told me they would not do a sweat salinity test because I couldn't afford a diagnosis.

Can't buy Sudafed; pharmacies treat the request like you asked them for their virgin daughter.

Can't buy anitbiotics at the feed stores no more; FDA took care of that.

I've got my own individual reasons to doubt the medical industry; I see my neighbors finding many of their own. We're going to need witch doctors and other unlicensed caregivers before long.

Of course, it could be a question of metrics vs incentives, too. Who gets promoted when they juke the stats to say there isn't a problem? "Rural Healthcare" is one of those lovely nebulous goals that can soak up nearly infinite amounts of grant money without ever having to show real results.

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I’m sure you’ve run down a lot of options already but in case you haven’t come across these (or to anyone else with similar issues):

> Can't buy Sudafed; pharmacies treat the request like you asked them for their virgin daughter.

If you have a Costco when you go into town, you can get 24 generic for about $3 and can buy 3 boxes at a time from the pharmacy. 6 if you are there with someone else on the card. I’ve never been given a funny look about it and stock up whenever our family seems like they might be getting sick. I’m not sure what the limit is beyond single visit, but for a family of 6 we’ve never had an issue having enough on hand.

> Can't buy anitbiotics at the feed stores no more; FDA took care of that.

JASE seems expensive, but then and others will give you prescriptions via telemedicine.

I used a teledoc during COVID to get the verboten prescription and it wasn’t any more expensive than a pharmacy clinic or urgent care.

> Costco

Even when the nearest Costco is an hour away at best?

Having grown up and lived in the country, something being only an hour away is not unusual or a big deal. Our grocery store was 45 mins away, it isn’t a big deal when that has been your life.

Presumably buying 3 boxes of sudafed isn't something you do frequently.

Anyone will allergies will disagree :D

> Can't buy Sudafed; pharmacies treat the request like you asked them for their virgin daughter.

Do they really make it that hard in rural counties to buy that stuff? Here in the city you just need to ask for it at the pharmacy counter and they scan your ID and you're good.

Depends on where you live. I live in Indiana, and you can buy Sudafed in limited quantites, but you are reported to law enforcement. Most people don't want law enforcement even knowing they bought Sudafed, so they go without. I had a chance to sit in a policy briefing where they shed a little light on what's going on in rural Indiana with mortality rates:

* Opioid epidemic really hit rural communities hard and high suicide rates are pretty common among addicts. This led to an increase in suicide in older people.

* Meth epidemic was fueled by cooking meth in the country, and it hit younger people.

There's a lot that has to go wrong before those two things become a major risk, though. Happy people don't generally decide that doing meth is a great idea. So what's driving the high rates?

Is it high rates of bad overall health? Bad economic prospects and high expenses leading to hopelessness? Something else?

> Bad economic prospects and high expenses leading to hopelessness?

Debt + Meth is a bitch..

my wife wont even ask anymore. our state law is one box per adult, per month, with ID. you dare not mention "family", they can't sell to anyone who says they're buying for others.

When i ask, its a wait while thy call the other pharmacies to see if ive bought there, and then they copy my info down and post it on a bulletin board. That's assuming they've got the time to deal with me: if they're rushed they just say no.

> Who gets promoted when they juke the stats to say there isn't a problem?

Who says there isn't a problem? IME many people says there is a major one, that the US needs to revamp its healthcare system, and rural voters vote against it.

Why is sudafed still behind the counter when now it's not even necessary and it may improve the health of the community if they started making meth with it again?

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