Comment by test0account
4 years ago
56% of GDP amounts to around 20k euro per person and year
Would you rather get the public health and education, or keep the 20k euro and find a solution for yourself?
I reckon that my health expenditures are 1000 per year, and I am self-taught, so I don't need the government for anything.
What we need is to make the public services Opt-in/Opt-out, so people who find it competitive like yourself can keep enjoying it.
Well, you will pay these 20k only the 40-ish years you'll work, while you'll pay your US health care insurance until you die. The average American pays more for healthcare over their live than the average European, and the outcomes are objectively worse.
Also, EU governments provide retirement benefits while the US's doesn't. This is the main expenditure for these governments.
Not saying that your argument has not some truth in it, but it's definitively wrong in the case of healthcare.
The outcomes are definitely not objectively worse, to the point that the U.S. is a huge medical tourism destination.
The US population not taking care of themselves is a public health problem not a medical care quality issue.
"the U.S. is a huge medical tourism destination."
It's not in the top 5 by number of patients treated. Anecdotally I met people who went to Germany, Israel, India and Thailand for treatment, I never heard of anyone even discussing going to the US. The visas alone are a nightmare.
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> to the point that the U.S. is a huge medical tourism destination.
Of course, if you have the money to fly to the US, stay in the US and pay out-of-pocket for a medical procedure in the US, then yes, the US is a good destination. Which translates into: if you're rich, medicine in the US is great.
However, not all of us are rich. And definitely not all Americans are rich.
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Re-read what you replied to: they were talking about "the average American", not the richest ones.
The total societal outcome -- spending vs outcome -- and therefore the average outcome too, for the USA as compared to most other developed countries... Pretty much sucks.
The US government provides extensive retirement benefits similar to the EU in both type and dollar value. These are some of the biggest spending line items in the US budget: Social Security, Medicare, etc.
My US government provided pension will be something like $3500/month when I reach retirement age. This is in addition to any personal retirement savings.
20k of GDP per capita means in any year of your life, even after 65.
People migrate to the US before the EU. Besides, US lifestyle (also a high tax country btw) is not the only possible alternative to european style quasi socialism (56% on the way there)
The EU is not anymore quasi socialist than the US.
Incidentally I'd say most western countries are way too close to socialism, I'd rather see more private entities taking over security, healthcare and law making.
It's just that there is no money, so private EU companies suck so there is no money. The lack of strong companies doesn't imply socialism. Most people in Europe has most of their trade interactions with other individuals and private businesses.
Society and the world at large doesn't revolve around individuals. Despite not having had any major health expenditures myself (for now), I have absolutely no problem with supporting a system that allows for those less fortunate to not have to worry about it, among other things. Frankly, anything else is simply barbaric.
The majority (or easily over 80%) of the EU's high taxation incomes are not being spent solely to support the people who can't afford their own healthcare or on those who are truly in need of that money, so that argument is pointless. Unless you are a millionaire you can't live well in EU. If you are just a regular tech worker advancing in your career can actually reduce your salary because of the tax brackets.
> If you are just a regular tech worker advancing in your career can actually reduce your salary because of the tax brackets.
How does that work?