Odds Are, We Win This Bet
So I bet that gambling is our next health epidemic, but of course I bet a lot of things.
…I bet if we just invest in Black girls from cities like Memphis or Hartford and help them get into college, then hire them as doctors and CEOs, that we’d lower healthcare costs and mortality in a pretty big way. I bet that this sort of change will happen. I hope it will happen. I also bet health outcomes would probably improve a lot if people could choose Clooney’s Dr. Ross from ER fame as their PCP because, well, it’s George Clooney. I bet Kirk Gibson’s homer in ’88 is the best moment in sports ever, and I bet Tiger’s chip on 16 at Augusta is a close second. I bet asthma wouldn’t be a problem if we dusted. I bet people think the Western omelette is the same as the Denver, but they would be wrong. I bet Journey thought they looked good in that “Anyway You Want It” video. I bet Lucky Charms are probably bad for your heart but boy are they delicious. I bet we are doing the right thing paying people to identify social risk factors of health, and creating Z codes to track it, but I bet people greatly underappreciate just how difficult it is to actually solve them. I bet you didn’t know Jupiter’s storm is bigger than Earth. I bet my grandma didn’t see color when her nurse Nyla, a 25-year-old Howard U. graduate, spent time playing charades with her every morning. I bet I could have been a contender, if I was just taller, faster and more motivated. I bet people are on to something investing in ways to relieve caregiver stress. I bet the #1 healthcare problem in the US in 2040 will be vision. I bet my 18-year-old partied after our Hoosiers beat the Boilermakers this season and I bet if Letterman were still on late night that he’d make a pretty funny Top 10 out of this.
I also bet the next epidemic won’t be a variant but instead will be another addiction, only this one won’t be a pill—it will be a wager.
The March Madness tournament games may be good theater for people’s mental health, but likely bad for the rising population addicted to gambling. It is our next epidemic, and as we enter the heart of sports betting amid March Madness basketball, I’m reminded of what is fast becoming a national problem with pretty serious health implications, particularly for 16 to 25-year-old males. Ben, 19, says he gambled away the $6,200 he earned last summer that was to cover his 2nd semester at college. His parents know, but don’t know how to help. Abe, 21, took the $139 left in his checking account two months into his $80,000 job and bought just enough drugs to land him in the hospital. His mom is with him. It’s a bit perplexing that 20 some states and counting have legalized online sports betting, but these same states and others won’t allow mental health therapists or programs to treat these addictions unless they have a license in the state where the patient is. We’ve made a bet that people can gamble responsibly. It’s the same pact we made to drink responsibly. Kenny Rogers was probably right – we ought to know when to fold ‘em, if we only knew how to walk away and replace the addiction with something different, something healthier. Therein lies one of the least discussed but most important quality measures for behavioral health practitioners, insurers and policymakers to prioritize – don’t just fix, solve. Don’t pay for a session, find a way to pay for “recovery.” If you’re looking to find your niche in the great big behavioral health market, maybe place a bet on helping solve gambling, or treating those addicted to it. I suppose March Madness tells us a lot about our behavior—our impulse control and our allegiance, our unity to rally around an underdog like St. Peter’s, and perhaps our collective response to the latest addiction we aren’t remotely ready to.
But I bet someone will figure it out. -BC