Just got back from a vacation overseas with a fresh and renewed hatred for my own country 😊
You know how lovely it was to be able to walk and bicycle and take good, reliable public transportation everywhere? Do you know how nice it was to have not just third spaces, but SO MANY of them, that if you didn’t like the look of some rando sitting in one, just walk a fucking block to the next one? Do you know how safe I felt, knowing that I wasn’t surrounded by psychopaths with guns, and had access to free medical care? You could sit for an hour and hear like 6 different languages being spoken. The amount of amazing food from all over the world just… like it’s a block from you.
It is not free, we do pay. But this insurance covers a lot of things the US system does not. And any co-pays are easy, like 5€ for medication, or 10€ per day in hospital (but for a maximum of two weeks per year, IIRC, then it’s free).
Now, think of this. We pay 24% federal and some of us pay 9% state tax, meaning people like in California lose 33% instantly and our benefit is…military? Ambulances cost $1000, hospital visits cost you a soul, or your first born. Yeah, I’d prefer to just pay 40% and have the benefits you have.
Dude, thank you. Genuinely. I’ve always been baffled by Americans constantly arguing that healthcare in Europe “isn’t free because taxes”. Included in our ~35% tax is healthcare, all education from first grade all the way trough college/Uni, parents get like 2 years of PTO when the child is born, etc.
If you add together the costs of all of the above in the US, It’d vastly outweigh what they “save” in lower taxes.
Oh, if you mean taxes generally, than in Denmark, 36% of my money I never see on my account. And the healthcare is slow, and in some cases I would have to prove that I have problems, and no, painkillers and “walk more” don’t help. But if something serious will happen, yeah, I know I’m safe
In the US you have to do the same, IF you have the money and coverage to do so. Many don’t, so they don’t even get the chance to prove they need the help.
I have money and good insurance. I want to see an endocrinologist. First I need a referral from my doctor, then I need to wait four months to get an appointment. It’s ridiculous.
Paid healthcare isn’t better, it took me 2 days to get medicine I needed because of “referrals needed”
Every single day over the last 10ish years the US looks worse and worse (I already didn’t love it) and almost everywhere else looks significantly better.
I want to leave.
It’s free - at the point of use.
Also the basic national insurances indeed cover a lot of things AND they don’t have this whole “insurance can deny prescription/procedures” thing.
You pay over your lifetime what a US citizen might pay in a particularly bad year. Including all tax burden.
Fun fact - In this scene, and others where Superman is flying, his hair is all CGI. Because director didn’t want to blow wind on his face, which would have resulted him in squinting. He is Superman, he is immune to small dust particles.
Great scene, this.
