US under-45s struggle for insurance approval as colon cancer rates rise

plus drinking lots of water right?

Thanks. I went and got an endoscopy a couple of times in the last 5 years or so for stuff but they only found mild gastritis. Had hemorrhoids at one point in my life but that was over a decade ago now and don't think I've really had issues since. I also stress a lot and on a couple of meds I take daily and one is a stimulant so I'm sure that does SOMETHING to my GI. But yeah, guess I can try and get seen again since I've never had a colonoscopy since I'm still a few years out from 40/45.

It may be environment related and compounded with lower fiber diets. This is just an observation, an anecdote, but a lot of colon cancer cases under 45 (or even 35) are actually coming from people who are quite fit, in particular people who run and workout a lot. Haven't observed that many with colon cancer diagnoses that are obese and young, and that may have to do with the fact that if you eat less, but you're going keto, or even keto-adjacent diets, people are more prone to eat less fiber. Again, take what I say with a grain of salt, but just thought I'd put that out there.

There are plenty of vegetarians “surviving” on simple carb diets. My cousin in law is one. 350lbs and uncontrolled diabetes but no meat in sight, which apparently makes it healthy.

Welcome to capitalism. The easier all us widgets are to control, the more money the real people at the top make!

For anyone else reading this thread and taking that "I work in healthcare" comment as gospel—please don't. That commenter is completely missing the point of the article and fundamentally misunderstanding how medical billing works under the ACA. The issue here isn't that rogue insurance companies are illegally changing a "preventative" code to a "diagnostic" one just to screw patients over. If they were arbitrarily doing that, sure, report them to the state. But that's not what is happening to young people. The brutal reality of the US healthcare system is that if you are under 45 and experiencing symptoms, a colonoscopy is a diagnostic procedure right from the jump. It breaks down like this:  * Preventative (Screening): You are 45 or older, feel completely fine, have zero symptoms, and are just getting a routine check because of your age. The law says this has to be 100% covered.  * Diagnostic: You are 30, you go to a GI doctor because you're bleeding or in pain, and they order a scope to figure out what's wrong. Because you are trying to diagnose an active medical issue, it gets billed as diagnostic. That means you are instantly on the hook for your deductible and copays. If a doctor sees a 30-year-old with rectal bleeding and codes it as a "routine preventative screening" just to save the patient a massive bill, the provider is the one committing insurance fraud. They are legally required to code the actual clinical reason for the visit. Because the patient is under 45, they simply don't qualify for the routine screening benefit. The problem isn't that billing departments are breaking the law. The real nightmare is that the system is functioning exactly how it's legally designed to. The official age guidelines just haven't caught up to the terrifying fact that millennials and Gen Z are getting colon cancer at unprecedented rates, leaving symptomatic young people holding the bag for life-saving tests.

The problem is the bullshit of going in for a screening, like annual dermatology exam, that absolutely should be covered, but the Derm sees a suspicious mole, and takes it off. Now I’m on the hook for hundreds of dollars.

As someone that’s worked alongside insurance and hospitals- this is correct. Even just getting a colonoscopy under age 45 requires a prior authorization. The provider and the insurance have to know ahead of time whether it’s diagnostic or preventative and if diagnostic then it needs to be justified. The system is broken and inherently flawed, but they’re not changing codes willynilly for a few extra bucks- that is flagrant fraud which can cause them to lose on-par status with insurance or even their license.

I have no family history of it, but do have a history of other digestive issues (fun when many of the symptoms overlap with cancer!) It is still rare and the massive amount of articles about it lately come off as fear mongering and do not also tell people that early detection rates and higher survival rates are also happening...which is a good thing. They never give the full picture.