this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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The article is a bit more nuanced than the cropped screenshot suggests. The subject matter of the article is about a growing trend of cancer diagnosis im younger employees. It is treated as concerning. The subject came about due to an analysis of the increasing health insurance costs incurred by employers because cancer in young people is a new phenomenon. It also touches on the possible long term impacts on young people who have had to undergo cancer treatment.
https://www.axios.com/2024/08/21/cancer-rates-employer-insurance-health-costs
Yeah, I think you're missing the point. Cancer is a problem for the person or people who get it. Framing it as a problem for employers completely frames the issue wrong. This is the problem with capitalism, the people are treated like numbers, that either make profits go up or go down. That's not a system we want to be a part of. The system is made up of people, that should be treated like human beings.
That's not the point of the article. The point is to approach a new problem from the employer's side. If the headline was, "Cancer causes a growing problem for employees", we would all be saying, "No shit!"
And why approach it from the employer's side? Because they've already covered the human side:
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/31/gen-x-millennials-cancer-increase
https://www.axios.com/2024/12/09/cancer-treatments-jump-among-young-adults
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/19/cancer-colorectal-death-people-under-50
We dont want to approach the problem from the employers side. The employer doesn't have a problem, the people do. See the difference?
You really should read the article without prejudice. It even touches on how the cancer diagnosis might be tied to a lack of preventative medicine and care, both of which are caused by a lack of health insurance.
Also, framing the lack of healthcare as a burden on business is a really smart way to argue for universal healthcare, which seems to be what the article is arguing for if you read between the lines.
The truth is that a lot of people don't care about others' problems until those problems affect them. It isn't right, but that's humanity for you.
Yeah, no. Does cancer affect company's insurance costs, sure. But making the rise in cancer rates in younger people, a public health crisis experienced by individuals and families, into an aggregate bottom line issue for capitalists is dehumanizing. Throwing an aside comment about "the possible long term impacts on young people who have had to undergo cancer treatment," just makes it all the worse because they are acknowledging the human aspect is a concern, but they are still most concerned about the dollars and cents for businesses' insurance premiums. That part should be the footnote, not the headline.
How many more headlines do you wish to see Axios cover in such a way?
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/31/gen-x-millennials-cancer-increase
https://www.axios.com/2024/12/09/cancer-treatments-jump-among-young-adults
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/19/cancer-colorectal-death-people-under-50
Sure. We also have hundreds/thousands of books about the the human suffering of the Holocaust. But I'm not about to write a book about how the homeowners that lived near concentration camps struggled with the smells and noise. Or how "Auschwitz Plumbing" had a big PR problem after the war ended and had to pay new registration fees to rebrand. That's not the story that mattered and it is really insensitive to pretend it is.
That guy got out of the cave and read the article, now he's come back to tell us how the headline shadow of the article was a misrepresentation.
Quick everyone, let's all beat him to death with our downvote, because he tells us the article does not align with what we believe, he must be trying to divide us, but we know our tribe is the most important thing, let's defend the tribe at all cost...
/s
Sounds like the solution is socialized medicine
That is exactly the take I got from the article. They even listed a lack of.preventative care and screening as a contributor to the rise in cancer rates in young people. If I were to guess, the cancer is being found because the employee finally has health insurance and could get themselves checked out without the threat of financial ruin.
https://i.imgur.com/gsZAVSh.jpeg