Its cheaper for me to be on the ACA and Medicare @ 65 than to be in the UK when all things get considered, and I have a passport. I may want to move, but finances would not be the reason.
Just saw this, and it's funny how angry it makes me considering how little the US has to do with me - I am not American, never lived there, only visited a few times.
https://imgur.com/gallery/2KeF7t0The UK is in the process of killing itself. I don't know what the fuck is going on I really don't - every time I check in, it seems like we're stabbing ourselves in the chest. Brexit is such a mess. It makes me so so sad.
Fact is, healthcare costs money. You have highly trained professionals and expensively developed drugs. It has to be paid for somehow. Life isn't fair, we all know that. And that's fine. But there are certain things we can change, and I think a basic level of care for each and every human being is something we should strive for - to give people the chance to flourish. We're incredibly lucky to be alive compared to even 50, 100 years ago. But we are trashing the planet rapidly due to our shortcomings - our lizard brains supporting strong men in too many nations, the fact we've learned how to manipulate each other extremely effectively before having developed the frameworks to protect us from ourselves.. all very sad.
Here in France the health system is totally bizarre (from the POV of a Brit). In Canada the system is bizarre (ditto). For a non-Brit, I'm sure the same applies to the NHS.
I am biased but I strongly believe the systems at least as perceived by the average person (me) while growing up in the UK are close to the right way of doing things. Tax - you don't have to file a tax return unless you fall outside some pretty wide allowances and whatnot, it's just automatically dealt with. Health - you need to see a doctor, you go to see a doctor. There is no payment. Dentist, there are fixed prices and if you need multiple things you just pay the higher capped amount. Ok so opticians, the eyetest itself is not free and they try to rip you off on the price of glasses, but there are cheap options available if you are poor (and the eye tests are pretty cheap/will be paid for by your company if you do anything screen related, etc).
Perfect no absolutely not. Absolutely not. Unemployment ("the dole") is really low. Social housing waiting lists are ginormous and of course once you're in there is no incentive to do anything that would cause you to lose the benefit. And we're mean now about all this stuff (maybe that's no different). Maybe I have rose tinted specs on - I despised Tony Blair at the time but, Iraq aside ("pretty big aside", yeah I know), they ran things pretty well. I lean conservative but fuck me not this delusional shit.
Education is where it's all at. Not this constant testing, not rote learning, but a place to actually learn and grow, to be able to think for yourself. Critical thinking.. all that.
I really hope we, the west, can turn things around, because all I see is Russia being strong by shitting on their people and bullying, China doing the same - and succeeding. That's what concerns me - we aren't showing a good role model, we aren't standing up to them.
I don't know. I really don't.