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Unpopular opinion: Money CAN buy health

When money CAN buy health
“Go spend some money,” a nurse once told me when I sought out advice.

Thinking about that incident still pisses me off, even though I’m a long way from being that broke student. But to be fair, she wasn’t wrong.

Lack of money has caused many physical problems for me over the years, and money has in turn also fixed them. Full circle.

On the skin front

Know what disappeared once I solved my money problems? My intense eczema. It was a horrendous cycle – financial stress led to eczema that required expensive cream that didn’t exactly help the financial strain and made everything worse until the core money issue was dealt to. My stress eczema got so bad I couldn’t even wear a bra for some time. Now I just have to deal with the scars, and rosehip oil (again, thank you money) is helping with that.

Know what else disappeared and reappeared accordingly? My period. Not that I missed it from a practical perspective, but I knew its absence was a bad sign.

On the respiratory front

I quite like breathing. Unfortunately it can be a struggle sometimes. Years of living in cold damp New Zealand rentals will do that to you. Buying a house is the only thing that’s made a real difference in this area.

On the intimacy front

Okay, maybe a bit of a cheat here. A good sex life isn’t a requirement for health and wellbeing but it’s nice to have. Post-dinner bloat is a mood killer. A dirty house is a mood killer. But for me, money stress is the biggest turnoff of all.

Disease Called Debt

8 thoughts on “Unpopular opinion: Money CAN buy health

  • Reply Kate @ Cashville Skyline September 6, 2016 at 23:41

    I’m with you. I’ve been paying out-of-pocket for psychiatrist visits for years, and medication has really helped me keep anxiety under control. Also, I still take medication for acne (yup, even at 32!) Not being able to afford management of these two chronic conditions would make me very unhappy.

  • Reply Anya September 7, 2016 at 02:09

    Unpopular in NZ maybe but reality here in the US. If you don’t have money, you can’t afford healthcare – it’s as simple as that. Also, while sex isn’t a requirement to health and well being, there are a lot of health benefits to sex provided that its consensual, STD-free, and both parties get pleasure. So not a cheat at all.

    • Reply FF @ Femme Frugality September 10, 2016 at 23:59

      I was going to say, I don’t think you’ll hear a lot of opposition on this from American readers! At least have Medicaid expansion now for the lowest income earners, but there’s still a ton of people struggling between premiums and deductibles and tax penalties.

  • Reply Lila September 7, 2016 at 02:26

    Totally agree with you. Money can buy health! You get access to the best doctors, medicine, treatments, etc. Money touches more than our ability to pay bills.

    Money touches every aspect of our lives!

  • Reply Raquel September 7, 2016 at 08:27

    I’ve been buying my health this year: firstly, MyFoodBag meals. I’m paying for the convenience so that I’m less likely to resort to takeaways.

    Most importantly, though, I’ve been paying for therapy. I started seeing a counsellor. I don’t qualify for any assistance now that I’m 25 and earning well, but I don’t mind. It’s been a huge, and important, investment.

    A friend of mine got braces, and I think next year I’ll be looking at getting braces again to correct the poor orthodontics I got as a very young teenager.

  • Reply Dividends Down Under September 7, 2016 at 18:16

    It’s a tough pill to swallow to realise how much money actually buys you – the most elite and wealthy it even buys them the ability to evade the law, fast track immigration, manipulate governments and more..

    For Tristan and I, money will buy us children. We need a lot of money for the slightest chance of children. IVF, adoption, money money money… If we were born into “old money” it wouldn’t even be a barrier, just a blip. It really gives you a pit in your stomach when you think of the barriers between you and what you ache for is – money.

    Jasmin

  • Reply Jessie's Money September 8, 2016 at 09:06

    Even in Canada, where folks are often quick to say that we have free healthcare, money makes a big difference. Sure, cancer treatment (for example) is covered provincially but travel to specialists, hotels, food, gas etc. that all costs a lot of money and particularly for people who live outside of major cities it can be very expensive to get treatment.

  • Reply Mel @ brokeGIRLrich September 11, 2016 at 13:03

    Ugh, I agree. I actually have a draft in the works on the obnoxious cost of mental health care right now.

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