• Preußisch Blau@lemmy.ca
      60·
      1 year ago

      Many non-US places (otherwise known as the rest of the world) have cheap wine, cheap food, and social benefits. Cigs though idk, you’d have to be insane to smoke in most developed countries because if the cancer doesn’t kill you, the prices will.

      ::: spoiler Sorry to be so snarky but it’s a lot funnier to put it that way. :::

      • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        92·
        1 year ago

        True. Bit of a tangent but one issue when you have free Healthcare the cost of smoking to individuals is lower. Genuinely it’s a problem - sometimes people don’t value their health as much as they should because of ease of access to Healthcare. I’m 1000% in favour of free Healthcare, it’s just an interesting paradox.

        Public health measures focusing on increasing the cost of smoking through tax work but we don’t have the pressure to stop smoking due to the cost of Healthcare itself which can make it harder to get people to understand the effects. Meanwhile public organisations understand the cost of smoking and invest in trying to reduce it as it puts huge pressure on Healthcare systems. Not just cancer but it’s a major driver of cardiovascular disease (heart attacks, peripheral vascular disease) and lung diseases (emphysema / COPD). The costs of smoking related diseases is staggering.

        Smoking is in decline across the west but we’ve known since the 1940s and 1950s definitely that smoking is bad yet smoking rates have been persistently high in Europe until more recently - last 20 years or so.

        Smoking rates in France for example - 23% still smoke but there has been a huge decline in the last 20 years. Yet smoking was banned on public transport in the 1970s. To be clear I’m not saying it’s because of free Healthcare - just that in countries with good Healthcare systems there is more going on. People have known for 80 years smoking is bad and there has been a gradual decline but big shifts have happened surprisingly recently.

        Edit: maybe this is a bit ott comment for a meme lol

        • frunch@lemmy.worldBanned
          21·
          1 year ago

          I like when a meme sparks a much deeper analysis and/or conversation. Keep on truckin’ (imo) 🙂

        • danc4498@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Obesity probably fits this same issue. Having tax paid healthcare makes it a government issue to keep everybody healthy, though. So maybe it would encourage the government to make rules around encouraging healthy behavior.

    • possiblyaperson@sh.itjust.works
      23·
      1 year ago

      I watched his videos a while ago and if I remember right he said that he just saved up money at his last job and was living off that. I’m also pretty sure he was living in London so definitely nothing cheap.

    • Guitarfun@lemmy.world
      3823·
      1 year ago

      The same way people here do probably. Mooching off their parents/friends/spouse/government.

        • Guitarfun@lemmy.world
          1225·
          1 year ago

          I haven’t known any shut ins that would qualify as having mental heath issues. Most of the people I know who never leave their house just don’t want to have a job. They don’t have any problems leaving the house or dealing with people they just don’t want to work or support themselves. Of course instances where they physically can’t leave their house because of mental health issues and trauma are different, but again that’s never been my experience when dealing with people like that and I’ve known a lot of people who would be called “shut ins”.

          • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
            4·
            1 year ago

            So 100% of the ones you know have no problems leaving the house and functioning?

            That doesnt sound like a very fair sample

            • Guitarfun@lemmy.world
              2·
              1 year ago

              I did say that’s just been my experience and I did say that people with legitimate problems are different. The cases I’ve seen are spouses or partners who don’t work but their partner has to do the work of two people or kids living with their parents well into their 40s and don’t ever try to support themselves. I’ve known some people who bounce from couch to couch until the person they’re staying with get’s sick of them never contributing and kicks them out. Sometimes they do eventually become self sufficient and sometimes they find someone who’s willing to support them and marry them never having to lift a finger. I doubt I’d ever be in the position to meet a real shut in who can’t leave their house because they legitimate problems or have been traumatized so this has just been my experience.

    • riot@fedia.io
      15·
      1 year ago

      Allow me to introduce myself ;)

      I quit smoking 9 years ago, because it was getting too expensive. Which definitely made it harder for me to quit, because I didn’t stop because I wanted to. Back then prices for the brand I bought were “only” at 4.69 euro / 5.48 usd, but I knew it was only going to get worse from there. Now they’re at 8.04 eur / 9.40 usd, and I’m so happy I quit, but even more so because of my health, which I didn’t care about back then.

      EDIT: Just checked, and it was actually 9 years ago, not 8.