Will my life be better if I move to USA?

"It is worth noting that people over 65 are by far the most affluent cohort of American society."

Same here.

Except for the ones that aren't, of course.

I'd rather a 'class' system than being shot dead while standing in a line at McDonalds or my children shot at school. I'd rather healthcare, and maternity leave, good holiday pay, and access to abortion if needed. I'd rather not need to declare bankruptcy because of hospital bills. I wouldn't be caught even visiting that country. You'd have to be mad to want to live there.

That’s why almost everyone on Medicare takes out gap insurance or enrolls in a Medicare Advantage plan, which has more restrictions than traditional Medicare but eliminates the gaps.

https://www.aarp.org/membership/benefits/campaigns/medicare-eligible-options/

It is worth noting that people over 65 are by far the most affluent cohort of American society.

There are also people like me who retire with their private insurance coverage from their employer, and Medicare becomes their primary coverage and the group policy is secondary coverage. I have no copayments or deductibles for anything. My group plan waives them all because Medicare pays for most medical expenses and they only have to pay the remainder.

Also, medicare and medicaid have gap fees that still render care unaffordable for many Americans

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-is-the-medicare-donut-hole#payment-plan

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/cost-sharing/cost-sharing-out-pocket-costs

This gets complicated. The Federal government funds 65% of the state's Medicaid expenditures. The states have to fund 35%. States have been allowed to tax healthcare providers up to 6% of their revenue. This has the perverse effect of qualifying them for more Federal matching funds while lowering the state's contribution and raising healthcare costs for everyone, even those with private insurance.

That 6% cap is being lowered to 3.5%, so the states will be able to take less of their funding from doctors and hospitals. They'll have to make it up as part of the 35% they are supposed to be contributing in the first place. If you really want to understand what's going on, read this:

https://www.kff.org/medicaid/5-key-facts-about-medicaid-and-provider-taxes/

New York has already announced that it will increase funding to make up for the lower tax on medical providers.

www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2026/01/gov-kathy-hochuls-fy-2027-executive-budget-proposal-numbers/410802/

Yes, to a point. I have many friends there who should be retiring now, and here they would certainly be wealthy enough to do so. Why don't they? Absolute fear of losing their health insurance and the impact that could have on their finances.

Lolllll good luck

Bit aren't they cutting Medicaid at the federal level and limiting the amount states can tax health insurers to provide it to people at lower incomes. So a whole life of people currently on Medicaid are probably going to lose it.

"the assumption is that there's no government-provided healthcare for the poor or the elderly here"

I think a lot of Europeans heard about Obamacare.

The US has it's own social issues and frankly I think they are far worse. I used to live there. I won't ever again (though I do still spend several weeks of the year there for my business). I don't even holiday there anymore. What do I mean? Racism. It's a massive issue that hangs over everything. And lack of social care. Homelessness, drugs, mental health, general healthcare... if you aren't wealthy you are in trouble if you have issues around any of those. And mainstream America thinks those problems are unsolvable, despite the evidence from other countries. Is the class system here a bad thing? Sure. I'm from a working class, immigrant background and went to private school so I've suffered through it, but I'd rather be here than endure the state of America today.

Correct, but it shows how wrong the assumption is that there's no government-provided healthcare for the poor or the elderly here. They are by far the largest provider of health insurance in the country.

@MissConductUS

"The US government provides healthcare for millions more people than the NHS does"

That's not a meaningful argument, since it is a smaller proportion of a larger population.

That's interesting.
Although the fact that Nouveau riche exists as a concept sort of suggests there is a class.system I guess. So you have poor areas with pavements, Nouveau riche areas without pavements, well of older money places with pavements.where people feel less need to show they have money.

To expand on this, here are the numbers of Americans who get government-provided healthcare. Medicare provides health insurance to everyone aged 65 or older regardless of income, and Medicaid provides health insurance to people on low income. The US government provides healthcare for millions more people than the NHS does.

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/medicare-and-medicaid-numbers.pdf

2 out of 5 Americans: Nearly 2 in 5 Americans are covered by Medicare or Medicaid.

82 million: Medicaid & the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) cover more than 82 million Americans, including adults, pregnant women, children, and people with disabilities.

62.7 million: The number of Americans enrolled in Medicare in 2024, up from 19 million when the program began.

1 in 4: Medicaid provides health coverage to 1 in 4 non-elderly Americans.

38 million: About half of all children in the U.S.—roughly 38 million—get a healthy start through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

80 million: CMS estimates that Medicare enrollment will reach 80 million within the next 10 years, and 100 million by 2075.

1.5 million: Medicaid and CHIP pay for more than 40% of all births in the U.S.—over 1.6 million each year.

3 out of 5: Three out of every five nursing home residents rely on Medicaid to pay for their care.

As an example, in my state of New York, 37% of the population qualifies for Medicaid coverage.

https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-people-are-on-medicaid-in-the-us/state/new-york/

So please don't tell me that the poor can't access healthcare in the US.

I don't think anyone has said the UK is a meritocracy.

(I love the fact that I would know who "lying buffoon" was, whatever the context)

That was a rule imposed by your HOA (homeowners association), not your state or local government. Had you been in a house with an HOA, you would have been perfectly free to hang your washing wherever you liked.

Correct. Pavements (called sidewalks here) are built in areas with high population density and in city and town centers. They are not built in areas with low population density as they would get little use compared to the cost of constructing and maintaining them.

I think this is an example of Brits not understanding that the US is not like the UK in some ways. I live in an exurban or semi-rural area. We have two acres of land, and our closest neighbor is 100 yards down the road. Pavements would be nonsensical on my street.

Thank you for your clarification, I will tell my American born relative that she is wrong.

But they don't live in a long standing wealthy city area, it's a relatively new suburban area that is increasing in size, predominantly white, close to an existing much poorer Hispanic area.

Maybe it wasn't just wealth that was being excluded.

I lived in Calif and not only could you not hang washing outside you couldn’t even hang it in the garage. In a state that hates oil cos.🙄
edit as it lowers the tone

This trope about pavements is a nouveau riche attitude. There are many older, very wealthy areas of major cities and suburbs (even along the California coast, where people drive everywhere) full of well maintained pavements.

Inverted snobbery comes to mind. People are people whether they are posh or not. Good ,bad or a mix of both .
If you think everyone is equal in USA then you are in for a shock. Their class system is based on wealth.
But why don't you just go?Obviously you are not bothered by Trump as President.

I have US relatives and I when I stayed with them last year I noticed that a new railway station had been opened, and new housing had been built in the vicinity. I commented that it's a shame there were no pavements or obvious crossings to allow commuters to walk back home safely.

I was told pavements equates to poverty. You only walk if you can't afford a car, so a lot of new housing going up in their area deliberately favoured those who drove, by excluding those who didn't.

There is a class system in US, but not necessarily along the same lines as the UK.

Yes, I think this is what can get lost in the salary conversation sometimes, the contrast to COL. Depending on the household's tax bracket, they're about 37% between state and federal, after which people still need to purchase their own health insurance as it's not covered, as well as invest in their own retirement plans, etc. In my neighborhood, a "fixer upper" exceeds $1M to purchase, plus energy costs, insurance, property tax (~$20k per year), etc. The salaries look much higher but the cost of living is, too.

A quick google shows that there is less social mobility in the US than the UK. You'd be better off moving to a Scandinavian country if you wanted a more egalitarian society.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/social-mobility-by-country

As talented and dependable as Liz Truss?

Though, to be fair, she was second choice after the lying buffoon.