From Timothée Chalamet to Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Saturday Night Live” and its featured guests were firing on all cylinders last weekend. One bit, in particular, might be worth lauding for more than just the laughs.
Like a tetanus shot to the arm, the SNL cast took a piercing jab at men for not visiting their doctors. It’s a funny skit that speaks to a real truth about health care.
What is Medcast?
The centerpiece of SNL’s latest health care skit, Medcast, is described as “a commercial for a new, innovative way to get men to go to the doctor.” In truth, it begs the unusual question: What if doctor visits were more like podcasts?
There were approximately 14 million more visits to U.S. health centers from January 2022 to June 2024 by women than men. Women live longer, too, by roughly 5.4 years. According to experts, there could be an important connection there.
“Men should not wait until they experience instances of pain or discomfort to see their primary care physician,” Dr. Sohaib Siddiqui, family medicine physician with Lifespan Physician Group Primary Care, told Brown University. “Preventative health is extremely important in order to maintain a good quality of life and to lower health risks in the future.”
But why would podcasts make men more likely to visit the doctor? It’s a hilarious idea, but there may actually be something to it.
Why men avoid doctor visits
“There’s something social happening,” Wizdom Powell, director of the UConn Health Disparities Institute, told the American Heart Association. The associate professor of psychiatry has been researching why men don’t visit doctors as often as women, and the results point partially to appearances.
“The messages ‘take it like a man,’ ‘boys don’t cry,’ ‘walk it off,’ and ‘soldier on’ are things that some men internalize with a particular level of rigidity,” she said. For many men, the objective isn’t to get better. It’s to appear like nothing was ever wrong in the first place.
Men believe “I have to put on this front, and I have to be consistently strong. I can’t be seen as weak. I can’t be seen as emotional. Because if I am, I’m going to lose social status,” Mary Himmelstein, an assistant professor in the department of psychological sciences at Kent State University, concurred with AHA.
Avoiding the doctor, however, can be a dangerous idea.
Gives new meaning to ‘heart to heart’ conversation
As the leading cause of death, heart disease kills someone within the United States roughly every 33 seconds. According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, men are at significantly higher risk of developing it than women.
A 2022 study discovered that people who regularly visit their doctors consistently had lower blood pressure and better cholesterol than others, reducing their cardiovascular disease risks.
Avoid the ‘big C’
The most common cancer among men is prostate cancer, reaching an estimated 313,780 new cases and 35,770 deaths in 2025. Since 2014, incidents of the disease have increased 3% year over year as well. Today, roughly 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed at some point in their lives.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Luckily, there is a screening test for it. Doctors might recommend their patients get the test as early as age 40.
Mental health is mighty important
According to the CDC, over 49,000 people died by suicide in 2022. It’s equivalent to a death every 11 minutes. While only making up half the population, males account for nearly 80% of all suicides — outnumbering women 4 to 1.
A 2024 research highlight from the National Institute of Mental Health revealed primary care clinics can reduce suicide attempts by 25% through suicide care practices.
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