Youâre thinking of Florida. They have the monopoly on weirdos.
Thatâs the big difference. A lot of people donât understand the difference between positive freedom and negative freedom. Your freedom ends when it inhibits or negatively effects another persons freedom.
While I understand your point about taking cyanide, I think you are missing the point I am trying to make here. Your right to take cyanide does not give you the right to make a pharmacist aid in your death. The pharmacist should have the right to choose whether or not to be involved in that action. You can take as much cyanide as you want but you cannot make someone else give you cyanide.
(And yes I know cyanide is an extreme example, but I am trying to avoid any possibility of âwell there is a 1% chance of it curing Xâ)
Ah yeah. Heâs a part of the Freedom Caucus. Canât say anything that makes the far right look bad. Gotta lie and pretend it didnât happen with tons of video footage.
This whole horse dewormer thing (and the bleach-drinking thing before that) seems so weird witnessed from a country where people get an education.
My roommate and I were discussing this earlier. He told me Finnish-stylee without even breaking a smile âWhy do Americans bother with the dewormer? Usually Jesus is their answer to everything, and that doesnât cost anything or require a prescription.â
I am frequently surprised by various peopleâs beliefs here. Like the person who told me that âtheir churchâ was âbible centredâ. The implication being that other churches somehow ignore their main religious text. Or people working for a not for profit healthcare organisation who donât believe in a social safety net, but instead that people should work hard so that they can pay for any possible healthcare that they might need. Never mind that the company that they work for has a huge charitable care write off every year.
I canât recall where I read this study, but someone compared the cost of âfull specâ living in the US and in countries with socialized services (full spec meaning having a full complement of health insurance package, enough financial padding or separate insurance to live for a while when falling on hard times and a decent retirement plan). The study showed that an American paid 2.5x more privately for these basic things that a European with comparable income entitled to the same benefits and paying for them through taxes.
In short: unlike Europeans, Americans have the freedom to elect not to pay for healthcare, social security or set money aside for old age if they choose not to. But the cost of that freedom is very high.
Considering everybody in the US would like to earn enough to afford these things, one wonders why they cling to the notion that it should remain optional.
Just to be clear, Americans cannot opt out of paying for social security⊠Itâs one of the few things they absolutely have to pay into.
The other thing that most people argue when you bring up cost is the quality argument⊠like, health services in other countries is crap and we have the best medical services in the world⊠Uh-huh.
At the same time though, I have seen problems with Canadian healthcare for example. Things like wait times are ridiculous. What I like about Canadian healthcare though is the emergency room response is no slower⊠and thatâs really where a lot of people run into trouble. A broken leg can cost $10,000 if youâre not careful⊠and we know youâre not careful because you have a broken leg haha.
What gets me is the argument people make here is that Obamacare is trying to be government healthcare⊠that a public option would mean the government is running the healthcare system⊠But thatâs not it all. It literally means a public insurance option. The healthcare is still private⊠But people are too stupid to understand that⊠probably too much horse dewormer.
Sorry I didnât count the embryonic social security system you pay into as true social security, anymore than I count Medicare / Medicaid as health insurance. Try enjoying these things the way Europeans understand them some day. Itâs night and day.
Approximately the same percentage came out of my paycheck for taxes and National insurance etc in the UK as I pay out in the US in Taxes, insurance, etc. But in the US that just covers my wife and I.
But, in the UK, my GP would do a house call if I was too sick, while in the US Iâm lucky if I can see a GP the same day. My experiences of emergency rooms are that even in one of the busiest ERs in Europe I have waited longer in the US to see someone.
I donât think that care is significantly better or worse in the US (or UK) but the cost (even with insurance) is much higher in the US.
The biggest difference I see is cost and coverage. I pay roughly the same from my paycheck, but then in the US I still have to pay extra for âmy portionâ of my care, and it is not necessarily an affordable portion. As for coverage, everyone is covered in the UK, so You donât get sick people going to work and avoiding the Drâs office because they canât afford to be sick.
Strangely that seems to be a big sticking point for some people about universal coverage. âWhy should I have to pay for health insurance for people who arenât workingâ.
What I pay for in my Euro taxes is freedom from stress. I know Iâll be taken care of if I lose my job. I know Iâll be taken care of if I lose my health.
In the US, youâre never sure about any of these things: if all goes well, no problem. But if you hit one snag too many in your life, you can spiral down into homelessness pretty quick. That never happens here. Whoever heard of food stamps in Europe since the end of the war⊠Iâm glad to âpay for those who arenât workingâ because it can happen to me too some day, and Iâll be glad someone paid for me.
Thatâs what I pay for: peace of mind and the freedom to pursue happiness without these concerns lingering in the back of my mind.
I donât remember where I heard this but somewhere along the line I heard the key to success was to âdo business in capitalist USA but live in a socialist country.â
Of course they meant a country with social programs⊠or maybe they said socialist leaning country⊠donât remember exactly⊠but you get the point.