> At a checkup a few years ago, a doctor told me I was deficient in vitamin D.
> At a checkup a few years ago, a doctor told me I was deficient in vitamin D. But he wouldn’t write me a prescription for supplements, simply because, as he put it, everyone in the UK is deficient. Putting the entire population on vitamin D supplements would be too expensive for the country’s national health service, he told me. Ugh. It's amazing how incompetent medical systems are. I was also deficient in vitamin D and my doctor wrote a prescription. When I did the math, the cost was something like >$.10 per 1000IU. But if I bought the vitamins from a normal store, I would pay <$.01 per 1000IU. Since a person lacking sunlight only needs 1000IU, the price for giving everyone in the UK Vitamin D would be <$700k/day. And probably much less since most people won't need this high of a dose and bulk quantities would be cheaper. For healthy people, taking extra vitamins is pointless, but giving them to people who are deficient in vitamins is one of the cheapest health interventions for the benefits. PSA: if you're feeling off, make sure your doctor checks your various vitamin levels and see if cheap OTC vitamins help.
Posted by sxp on Nov 29, 2025, 5:45 PM
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Raise real-world problems, find people facing the same issue, and discuss solutions.2,000 issues0 comments
pricing (Healthcare)
People hate it when faceless bureaucrats decide that some health care expense is too expensive for the large faceless bureaucracy to cove...
> I will never understand why people think ACA was so great.
Turning oneself in doesn't absolve one of a crime.
All that we know is that the doctor carefully guided the patient out of the intervention, flashing a value that nobody had introduced bef...
> Is that what we want?
If we're gonna stick with private insurance in the US, we should detach it from employment.
>Putting the entire population on vitamin D supplements would be too expensive for the country’s national health service, he told me.
> At a checkup a few years ago, a doctor told me I was deficient in vitamin D.
> At a checkup a few years ago, a doctor told me I was deficient in vitamin D.
> At a checkup a few years ago, a doctor told me I was deficient in vitamin D. But he wouldn’t write me a prescription for supplements, simply because, as he put it, everyone in the UK is deficient. Putting the entire population on vitamin D supplements would be too expensive for the country’s national health service, he told me. Ugh. It's amazing how incompetent medical systems are. I was also deficient in vitamin D and my doctor wrote a prescription. When I did the math, the cost was something like >$.10 per 1000IU. But if I bought the vitamins from a normal store, I would pay <$.01 per 1000IU. Since a person lacking sunlight only needs 1000IU, the price for giving everyone in the UK Vitamin D would be <$700k/day. And probably much less since most people won't need this high of a dose and bulk quantities would be cheaper. For healthy people, taking extra vitamins is pointless, but giving them to people who are deficient in vitamins is one of the cheapest health interventions for the benefits. PSA: if you're feeling off, make sure your doctor checks your various vitamin levels and see if cheap OTC vitamins help.
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