So I've almost (March 29) quit an IT role in a U.S. company that functions with the private healthcare market. It's been long evident to me that most industrialized nations have much more sensible systems, and my employer's business model would be nonexistent outside the U.S.

There's a current political trend towards "Medicare for All", basically a single-payer system for existing health services. The prevailing resistance comes from insurers, whose business models will cease to exist, and those whose compensation might be cut (physicians and hospitals) up to 50% under the current scheme for U.S. Medicare. That's leaving aside pharmaceutical companies.

I'm trying to decide where my political time should be spent - the "Medicare for All" slogan is great for bumper stickers, but are there other models that work better?

Please talk about your nation's policies - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tildes is mostly a young crowd that might not have direct experience of major medical need, but any commentary on what has worked and what doesn't is welcome.

Good news: I'll be starting my new work in Cape Town, South Africa soon.

Not so good news: I have depression, and is currently on the antidepressant Sertraline.

My question would be the following:

How are prescriptions of the antidepressant handled in the South African health care system? Can I obtain, from either a GP or a Specialist, a sort of "long-standing" prescription, valid for (say) a few months, that will allow me to refill at pharmacies or dispensing GPs, without me having to be referred to a Specialist each time I need a refill? I understand that recurring examinations by a Specialist are likely necessary, but I don't expect those to be frequent, as my condition is fairly stable now.

Also a related question: I'm otherwise young and physically healthy, not affected by chronic conditions except depression. However, it seems that any health insurance schemes there that cover my condition would be rather expensive. Those policies typically include a broad coverage of chronic conditions, most of which I don't foresee a need. For one like myself, what suggestion would you give in terms of health insurance selection?

Many many thanks <3

Even since my teenage years it's been a problem. They say people who start drinking sooner will probably develop alcohol problems and it seems to be the case with me and the majority of my friends. We are friends since little kids and we started drinking together when we were about 16 or 17 i think (i'm 32 now).

Every single one of us has a problem with binge drinking. I think i'm the less worse case among us since i can keep myself from drinking for days and usually have only one binge per week or less. They drink almost every day. I'm better than when i was younger, but it's still bad.

When i go out to drink i chug down +/- 3600ml (121oz) of cheap beer. It doesn't matter if it's craft/expensive beer, i will just get drunker and poorer in this case.

It's what happened yesterday. Now i'm hungover and just depressed.

How do you guys deal with alcohol? Is it a problem? Is it something you want to change or it doesn't bother you?

I've been programmer for past 4 years and signs of sedentary life, not being active and overconsuming certain stuff is showing... what do you do to stay healthy?
I plan on signup for a swimming pool, I started IF but I fail too many times.. Also i'm trying to cut sugar as much as possible but today was a really bad day in this regard...

my goal is not to get thiner. (i don't consider myself fat where it would be determinal to my health).
my problem is that I feel like my muscles are always tired (can't explain, like I could be strecthing them all day long and they would feel tired), my right side of body starts hurting everyday after 14:00 (+/- few hours, depends on what I am doing). I have regular lower back pains... :(

edit2:
wasn't on computer for the whole day after posting. thanks for all the responses.
My plan for the following weeks is:
-Waking at regular hours (6:30)
-Going to beed at regular hours (22:00 - 22:30)
-My morning routine will be:
some water, wimhof breathing, stretching, shower, coffee -> work.
I'll signup for a swimming pool and try to get my active hours in by going to swimming pool 3-5 times per week.
Regarding food:
Intermitting fasting between 12-20, no sugar, only tea,coffee,water.
Will be cooking my own meal every day / meal prep for the whole week.
all above should be simple to implement and not too hard to give up. On days when I will not feel energetic I'll take some modafinil in the morning.
Also I'll be abstaining from alchocol and any drug... also I'll try to smoke weed on weekends only in small quantites.
all the above shouldn't be hard to do because I allready do some of the things above...
I try to do wimhof breathing when I can, I cook 2-3 times per week. so the biggest ones will be:
giving up daily weed, signing up for swimming pool, going to sleep and waking up at regular hours.

For me, it has to be getting up the moment I wake up. No matter if I wake up before the alarm, I still get up. That helps a lot with fighting oversleeping. Not only am I late, but I also feel bad after spending a lot of time in bed, my head often hurts. So I only figured I better spend less time sleeping than more. And it works, too!

Sometimes when I am thinking, these bad thoughts come into my mind, specifically images. I would rather elaborate not elaborate what the images are but they are all connected by a single object.

I have tried meditation, and while I feel at peace for a few hours after meditating, the thoughts haven't really left long-term or gone down in frequency. Maybe I am meditating wrong. I am blindsided every time the thoughts appear.

Anyone have any experience with this?