Who knew pickleball could be so destructive?
Giant insurance companies have recently seen their shares tank after a shocking surge in healthcare utilization rates — and Wall Street analysts are blaming America’s beloved pickleball.
The biggest health insurer in the country, UnitedHealth Group, earlier this month issued a warning that both hip replacements and knee surgeries are on the rise, and to be quite frank, it’s going to cost a crap load of money. This news ended up shooting down UnitedHealth’s shares by over 9% in 24 hours.
Originally, analysts thought the increase of surgeries were a result of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, researchers from Swiss investment bank UBS are now putting the blame on pickleball injuries. And they’re saying it could cost Americans at least $377 million in 2023, according to Bloomberg.
Pickleball injuries may cost Americans nearly $400 million this year https://t.co/bu9IIMIGab
— Bloomberg (@business) June 27, 2023
As a pickleballer myself, I couldn’t help but to get a good chuckle out of this story.
My wife and I have been on a health kick as of late — trying to eat better, drink nothing but water, exercise on the daily, trying to be on our king and queen ish. Well, one of the ways that we exercise is by playing pickleball. It’s pretty cool too, we made our own court in our house with a net and everything, so we like to play that everyday when I get done blogging. So nowadays, anything pickleball-related and I’m usually interested.
That’s why I couldn’t help but to blog about this story, and it also got me thinking about a commercial that consistently plays on television. You may know what I’m talking about … I can’t remember what it’s for (medication, maybe?), but it’s about an old couple playing pickleball, and then one of them ends up having a heart attack with the TV screen going black with a just a green line going across (signaling death). (RELATED: REPORT: Chiefs-Dolphins Game In Germany Sells Out In Just 15 Minutes With 1.4 Million People Waiting For Tickets)
I’m just like, dang, who knew pickleball could be such a dangerous game?
But I’m not quitting — I’m way too Hall of Fame for that.