Their largest hope is for a millionaire influencer/Deus ex machina to appear and pay ther treatment.
I try not to live for savior fantasies like that, but as a person with PTSD that's accomplished a number of remarkable things to overcome an unfortunately adverse background, having an isolating disorder that requires a complex arrangement of financial stability, social acceptance, safety, and mentoring/nurturance which would be easiest to attain and maintain with a big pile of cash... I feel trapped. I worked at a game developer when I was 16, my peers went off to achieve great things, and I can't stay stable enough to not lose everything on an annual basis so I can have the money to get the help I need to be stable.
Ultimately it's on me to figure out, but it's hard to see so many resources squandered in this world to fruitless, meaningless, or even harmful ends and know in my heart that I could make the world a better place if I were the one "wasting" them pursuing my basic humanity enough to thrive.
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They can be almost impossible if you don't, and it isn't like someone is going to walk you through it.
And most of these programs aren't going to do anything if you aren't already in crisis mode - disability might be the biggest offender here. You have a 24 month wait for medicare at that point, nevermind that you are obviously out of work at that point. You might qualify for medicaid, sure, but might not.
And to be fair, most of my knowledge on this is personal: My ex was on disability for mental illness. I don't know how well he got along after we split.
Which is why I said depending on the circumstances.
"They can be almost impossible if you don't,"
The example give was glaucoma, so I was speaking to that. If one has mental issues, they could use an advocate (friend, family, or charity). If their impairment is too severe for that, they could have a guardian created by the court (still room for abuse here, but less so than acting without the extra step of a court).
"and it isn't like someone is going to walk you through it."
There are charities that do this very thing.
Much of my knowledge also comes from personal experiences.
The real point of discussion on this topic is somewhat hidden. The question is at what point should someone be considered a ward of the state - where they no longer have the capacity to decide things for themselves, and what restrictions the state should place on them (institutionalization, vs outpatient treatment, etc).
The experience related to me by one of these people is that the mentally ill homeless tend to not trust social workers, believing (wrongly) that they'll be institutionalized if they accept any help at all.
The sad result is that they only way many of these people will get any health care is if they are, in fact, institutionalized, because they refuse every other effort to get it.
Cataract surgery takes, what, 10 minutes and has an average ROI of about 40000% (taken out of my posterior), which is what makes it extra clear that it is a failing of society.
Being sick is illegal in the US and medical bills are fines for that.
It's coming, but it requires capitalism to be kept in check by government. Vote with your... er... vote.
With the exception of several dozen conglomerates that should be kept in check, deregulating, imho, would do more for competition then allowing those conglomerates to direct even more restrictive regulation.
The reason insulin is expensive isn’t due to the cost to manufacture. No startup will run to disrupt a market that’s price capped, entrenched, and has government backed pharma ready to squash any new entrants.