America may be behind but sadly quite a few countries seem to keen on racing it right to the bottom. Nobody seems to learn from all the mistakes it is making.
Don’t kid yourself. They’ve learned plenty.
Seems like a lot of them countries are trying to strip that stuff away though.
Guess who’s influencing them to do so.
Those dastardly Australians of course.
The tax system and healthcare system are genuinely fucked in the US. Both could be simplified greatly and benefit people, but those in the small handful of decision making power to do benefit from keeping it complex. The IRS is spineless, and private health insurance is disgusting.
I mean, there are reasons the tax system is as complicated as it is. A big part is that the government does not agree on what the system should do.
One half (ish) wants a progressive tax system that applies more tax burden the higher your income and wealth are, and uses a bunch of different taxes (of various levels of progressiveness and regressiveness) to do it.
One half thinks any tax on anyone other than the poor is a sin.
Hard to reconcile those two positions, but it’s what got us here
OK, so how many of those developed countries do we have to invade to pump our numbers up?
Invaed? That’s too much work to even spell right. How about we just ask them nicely if they want to join and then just forge their enrollment paperwork?
Yes, but the first one is not true.
Tired of calling what countries like Australia and Germany have as “universal healthcare”.
It isn’t. Simply isn’t.
In the case of Australia most familiar with. It’s a weird mix of public and private, with most medical costs covered under a private subsidy model, where your health service can change whatever, and you have to pay the gap between the Medicare rebate and what the services charges.
Doesn’t cover dental, has a small rebate for physio and other allied health (again, private providers, public rebate) and covers a basic check up for eyes every 3 years only, but doesn’t cover most optical.
The hospital system is also and absolute mess of a two-tiered system I won’t get into here.
It’s not fucking universal and I’m sick of people pretending like it is. It’s just kilometres better than the USA, which is the lowest bar ever.
That’s not at all how it works in Germany, though. Dental treatments are paid, as is medication. There is a surcharge for medication, which is capped at 10 Euros. And some dental options, which are not strictly necessary (debatable in many cases, I’ll give you that!) are not included. Physio and optical costs are also included.
Some of the payments require a doctor’s prescription in order to be accepted, but I would call that pretty fucking universal.
Dental treatments are paid
Nonsense. Dental treatments are slightly subsidised, but even with the subsidy are more expensive than paying outright in cash in France. They are only covered if you’re, like, gonna die from a tooth infection or something, and then they’ll remove it but not do anything about the missing tooth. The subsidy doesn’t even fully cover simple fillings, which still cost more than 100€ even for shitty resin ones. Let alone a ceramic crown for a front tooth which is like 600-1000€. Why do you think everyone goes to Poland or Turkey when they need real dental care?
Ok, here’s what is subsidised, assuming you speak German:
Call that nonsense if you wish, I’m not going to enter into a discussion of that kind.
If it covers everyone, then it’s universal. Doesn’t mean that it can’t be improved, but that’s literally what universal healthcare coverage means.
Universal healthcare means it covers all healthcare. If you’re needing pay pay out of pocket to private providers, and it doesn’t even cover a bunch of things, I refuse to call that universal - and so should you.
Universal means nothing, otherwise.
Medicare defenders really need to dream bigger, damn.
No it doesn’t. What would that even mean. Where do you draw the line between what is and isn’t medical care. You could classify any country as either having universal healthcare coverage or no healthcare coverage at all under that definition.
Healthcare is whatever medical professionals deem medically necessary, that’s where I would draw the line.
I’m no doctor, but dentistry and optometry is most certainly medically necessary (at least, this is my understanding of what medical professionals say!), and those are largely NOT covered under Medicare.
“Universal” is a superlative. It makes sense that it should mean everything, yes.
Universal is a synonym of all. I’m dying on this hill.
Even if people think it’s just it ‘covers’ everyone, how much it covers is relevant. My hyperbolic example is that just because it covers everyone doesn’t mean we should call it universal if it doesn’t cover everything (or extremely little in the case of the US). I’m saying, if we want to call it universal, it should actually cover you for everything you might actually need for your healthcare.
That is objectively not the case. Medicare does not cover you for a bunch of things, and as discussed in a previous comment, makes you wait months and months for medically necessary but you-won’t-die-today surgery, when we have more than enough wealth in this country to pay for it all.
Universal healthcare should cover all medically necessary healthcare in a timely fashion, private health should receive no subsidy, and you should be ineligible for public healthcare when on private, to make it compete (it won’t, it’ll immediately be a bad deal, which it is).
This isn’t pie-in-the-sky requests, it’s possible, it would just hurt the profits of private insurance companies, and private clinic owners who charge way above the rebate and make you pay out of pocket costs. We can and absolutely should create a fully public system, where people are employees of the health service.
Just pay medical staff properly so we don’t lose anyone to overseas, and let’s make it universal.
Medicare isn’t that good, is the point I was trying to originally make.
Rant over 😅
Imma be real I’m not reading that. But whatever it is, it isn’t “healthcare for everyone.” And that feels like the neat and simple answer here as opposed to whatever you’re doing.
Aight, healthcare for everyone (even if it is not equitable, and doesn’t cover a bunch of stuff) can be your definition.
TL;DR for you: Medicare isn’t nearly as good as it should and can be, and it’s kinda sad people call it a “universal healthcare” system.
Also no one forced you to reply. Am I supposed to feel bad for writing out my reasoning in a medium length comment? Just seems like you want to say someone is wrong without actually justifying your position.
Universal healthcare means it covers all healthcare.
I mean, no. It doesn’t. And as an example off the top of my head, the NHS in the UK doesn’t cover dental. It’s still universal health care.
I’m not defending Medicare or anything here, id appreciate it if you didn’t put words in my mouth.
Simply explaining what the term means.
We shall have to agree to disagree then. Calling a healthcare system that doesn’t cover all available healthcare universal just doesn’t make sense.
I can accept that’s what people call it, but that’s about it.
I think they’re wrong.
By this logic the USA has universal healthcare, because a hospital must treat you for emergency, life-saving care, even if you’re unable to pay.
So, the definition is absurd if it’s just that a system covers everyone.
Yeah, similarly in Canada which actually is single payer so yay, but is constantly, constantly under attack by privatisation hawks.
It’s a constant fucking struggle to keep the rich from raiding our commons. They’re always grasping, groping, taking, draining. It’s exhausting.
You want society to treat you like you belong to it?! You stupid fucks.
“Anyone who doesn’t have to suffer is a slight against me because I had to suffer at some point!” Fucking assholes.
Guess what? I inherited money. It didn’t make me stop advocating to help people or tax those with the most. These fuckers are inhuman.
But, honestly, we have to stop the socialist threat that will destroy our country because they want to feed people and that’s UNAMERIKAN!
The problem is the insistence on trying to force the word “socialism” onto people. The meaning of the word is completely nebulous, but to many people it’s synonymous with the USSR. So by saying to want “socialism” you’re automatically fighting an uphill battle by explaining distinction between what you mean by the word as opposed to other people’s meaning of the word.
This is part of a larger problem of leftists generally being incapable of communicating with working class. If leftists abandoned the terminology and just said “we want universal healthcare, higher minimum wage, better working conditions” there would be a lot of support by the working class.
But the problem there is that you’d be largely indistinguishable from liberals who you’re told to hate by monetized “influencers” on corporate social media. Corporate social media has emphasized the importance of identity over being effective, so leftists will continue to cling to the word “socialist” even while it hinders effectiveness on achieving goals that most people want. Then probably be angry at the working class for being “stupid” because they don’t understand that you want the same things as them and it’s their fault that they associate the word “socialism” with a country that had that word in it’s name.
explaining distinction between what you mean by the word as opposed to other people’s meaning of the word
I think this is the cause of the majority of disagreements. Like, in everything.
Nah it’s just internet troll culture. Say things in a controversial way to get a response and argue over semantics and accomplish nothing.
The people that actually want to make a difference actively make an effort to get people to agree with them, which is the opposite of troll culture.
27 countries? Which ones?
It’s kinda why these types of posts should probably be discouraged. Posts like these should have sources.
My country has all of that (healthcare/education are basically free). Workers rights are protected and stuff but taxes here are really high compared to the U.S.
To be fair they did say they had the lowest literacy rates
Good question! The report is here but there’s no such list that I could find.
https://static.heritage.org/index/pdf/2026/2026_indexofeconomicfreedom.pdf
Lol. Who’s the shithole country now?
Good, America sucks.
Does all this winning start to hurt eventually?
Is it starting to rash?
If so, it’s the dems’ fault!
Thanks Obama
scotus also reversed the ruling that potus can now fire at well on the 12 agencies, like cpbd, sec,etc.
you can have both private a full public option. funny enough thats the military healthcare plan right now, but its not available to any of the civilians.
you can also judge the health of a country by the mortality/morbidity of mothers/woman. they pretty much have the worst outcome of neo and post natal morbidity, and mortality of all developed countries. worst if you are a POC, or black.
They’ve also been attacking tricare and the va like it’s the nhs. (Aggressively, but without openly saying that’s what they’re doing)
im guessing service members have outlived thier usefulness as political pawns and cannon fodder.
No, there are approximately 190 fully capitalist countries, stop whitewashing capitalism. Capitalist countries also include: Afghanistan, Burundi, South Sudan, DRC and India. Stop with this evolutionist nonsense.
Yeah because capitalism is just how things develop without excessive government intervention to prevent it. It’s a lie to say capitalism is a choice. I guess technically you could say it’s a choice between buying food from a farmer or starving to death, but really that’s not much of a choice. The two biggest famines in history were cause by socialist countries taking direct control of the agriculture industry.
It’s interesting that Japan is below the US in the main rankings. I feel more free here in almost every regard than I did as an adult in the US.
Phacking
Economic freedom is not freedom in general. Hell you could even define economic freedom in different ways. Like freedom to let business do whatever they want or the freedom to not have to worry about needing to finance certain basic things. It is loose term and it very much depends on your values.
Yeah, is specifically meant economic freedom, at least as it applies to me. More affordable housing (I could still afford my payment even if my salary dropped in half if absolutely necessary), no worrying to death about medical bills, etc. This even allowed me to start my farm business which I’d likey be too terrified to do in the US. All in all I feel much less fear and anxiety over monetary matters here (though wanting to travel internationally sucks right now due to the weak yen, which I suppose is a downside).
My only real point of friction is investing, but that’s because I’m a US citizen still (until my parents pass, anyway) and that’s not a Japan problem. I’ve heard that buying and selling gold has some weird rules, but that’s not an issue I face.
I’ve heard that the justice system in Japan is absolute trash. Not only are many laws regarding things like recreational drug possession insanely punitive, they have a general conviction rate over 99%. Which is a major red flag imo. Makes you wonder how many people there have been wrongly convicted in order to keep the numbers up.
More info:
https://www.vox.com/world/2015/12/13/9989250/japan-crime-conviction-rate
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/japan-s-hidden-landscape-of-violent-crime
And americans will tell you it’s because they are better or different.
I’m not even American, but what the fuck are you even talking about, no one’s saying that
Also not American. You don’t think there’s a perception that American is the greatest country in the West? It comes off thick with a lot of topics even discussed on the fediverse. A good clip that I enjoy watching every now and then https://youtu.be/wTjMqda19wk
Everyone knows about the American exceptionalism, but it exists despite these horrid humanitarian conditions, not because.
No one’s gonna say “yeah I’m happy with being forced to eat dirt, I’m superior to you, that’s why!”
I’m sure many Americans would crow about these more positive things if they could but think about those posts that unironically brag about how “X about to find out why Americans don’t have healthcare” while showing a picture of an airborne orphan crusher, or something.
It’s all part of their true grit machismo, like hell yeah most brutal capitalist hellscape imaginable, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Honestly they revel in it.
It’s like Canadians and their cold winters.
You dont know this but some Americans are profoundly stupid. By some I mean more then any body can manage.
So just because you dont ride in those circles, dont think for a moment american exceptionalism isnt some sort of self defeating pride that will soon have my country on its knees.
You dont know this but some Americans are profoundly stupid.
Isn’t this the case basically everywhere? Is there a culture or country that doesn’t have profoundly stupid people in it?
I mean, we take it very seriously, though. There I go with american exceptionalism again.
Gotta fund the military somehow, mirite?
The “military power” reputation took a huge hit this year too. Really? That bs is why they forego all these benefits for their people?
But…but…hellfire missiles go brrrrrr?
