idriya Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Wow..."the only industrialised country without universal health care" says a lot about us :( That's why whenever I hear a politician say that they don't want the U.S. to become "like Europe," I always wonder what's so bad about being like a European nation? Even with just those stats alone, one can see that we are majorly behind in healthcare, but the same holds true for education and other crucial issues...maybe I will just move to Canada :P Well, Europe doesn't exactly have its ducks in order, either. What I've read in the news suggests that aside from some exceptions (Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries come to mind, for example), they are much worse off than we are economically, especially southern Europe. Just look at Greece, Spain, and Italy; they're not exactly doing so hot right now. I think some people are afraid that if we had universal health care and all of these programs, we'd eventually turn into Greece/Spain/Italy, which a fair point, I guess. That, and Americans don't like paying taxes, which universal health care would require. :P A lot of people think we pay too many taxes as it is. And I won't ever move to Canada. No offense, Rebecca, but it's like what I told you before. I've seen too many ultra nationalist Canadians who somehow think having universal health care and inventing that wonderful sport of hockey somehow makes them "better" than Americans, and I don't want to be around that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleomiele Posted September 10, 2012 Author Share Posted September 10, 2012 Well, Europe doesn't exactly have its ducks in order, either. What I've read in the news suggests that aside from some exceptions (Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries come to mind, for example), they are much worse off than we are economically, especially southern Europe. Just look at Greece, Spain, and Italy; they're not exactly doing so hot right now. I think some people are afraid that if we had universal health care and all of these programs, we'd eventually turn into Greece/Spain/Italy, which a fair point, I guess. That, and Americans don't like paying taxes, which universal health care would require. :P A lot of people think we pay too many taxes as it is. And I won't ever move to Canada. No offense, Rebecca, but it's like what I told you before. I've seen too many ultra nationalist Canadians who somehow think having universal health care and inventing that wonderful sport of hockey somehow makes them "better" than Americans, and I don't want to be around that. Well of course it wouldn't be smart to copy another country's policies verbatim and hope they would work, but I think we could still learn a lot from the European general way of doing things, e.g. universal health care. Gah, I'm so sick of the taxes conversations :P paying higher taxes to have most of your medical expenses covered seems completely worth it to me!! You'd never have to worry about a huge medical scare that you don't have the money to pay for. My brother was recently (and very unexpectedly) diagnosed with cancer and is having a bit of trouble covering all of the testing fees, the medication costs, and in the near future, the chemotherapy costs. I can't help but think how much easier the whole process would be for him if we already had that kind of health care system in place. My point (I digressed a bit, but alas!) is that I just think it's silly when people say "I don't want the U.S. to become like Europe!" as if resembling the European nations would be the worst thing that could happen to us...I just think that's laughably off. We can all learn something from each other's policies and practices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idriya Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Oh, believe me, I agree with you. I'm not saying you're wrong. I did say I like the French health care system and wish the US would devise a system based on it. I also like the German education system and think the US could base a new education system on it. But there are things they can learn from us (issues on racism come to mind;I've seen videos of how they treat African soccer players, for example, and it's sad, because what I've seen would never happen in the US), and it just bothers me when I see Europeans who act like the US is doing nothing right, and since Europe is "older," they have absolutely nothing to learn from us aside from "how not to run a country." Perhaps that's another thing. There's a bit of an "inferiority complex" in there, where since the US is the big superpower in the world, that means it has to be the big innovator of the world. "Being like Europe" means "copying Europe", and if the US did that, all it would do is tell the world that the Europeans are the true big innovators of the world, while the Americans are just a bunch of posers and copycats, and the US doesn't want to be seen like that. Do you see where I'm getting at? It's kind of hard to explain. xD I know you said we can learn from other's policies, but the sad truth is, we live in a world of black and white with no shades of gray, and in a world like that, people don't understand that. :/ I'm not going to go into the taxes thing. I admit to not knowing about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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