Things I adore about the USA and Americans

[PermanentTemporary]

No special reason... and it doesn't have to be things other people all agree with.

We're planning a holiday there in a couple of years to see some family so the wonderfulness of the USA is particularly on my mind. But am just thinking about how much I love it.

I'll bring up Senator George Mitchell, who gave years of his life to somehow bring the best out of every politician in Northern Ireland and made it possible for the Good Friday Agreement to be made.

I'll bring up American health care. Because although I don't want to change our system to theirs, the fact is that if you either have good insurance or nothing at all, you can have the best care in the world.

And the Grand Canyon. Not sure I've ever been speechless the way I was the first time I saw it.

I'm wondering if we can drop in to see some distant cousins of my partner's who live in Ohio. We've met once at a wedding. Of all the countries in the world, we can be pretty sure that they will be welcoming and happy to see us. ❤️

I never sneer at Americans. I'm a nationality that gets sneered at by superior types too, so I sympathise! (I'm English)

I would say that the problem is that how much you pay is wildly inconsistent, though increasing deductibles has been the way of the game since we got here. It is difficult to understand.

What people don't understand is that the overall outcomes don't correlate well to the quality of care you get. I switched careers after we moved here and now work in public health so I am better versed on this than most people. There's huge structural factors I could drone on about, but people assume that American doctors must be somehow worse and that's not it at all. There's also huge gaps (NHS has gaps too, eg racial gaps in maternity, but more of a floor). Some people get too much care, others not enough. There's large regional variations. When you slice and dice the data you see that some groups in the US are getting much better care than the NHS and others are getting care that's far worse. On the other hand, if I call my doctor, I can get an appointment. With the state of things in the UK it feels a bit six of one, half a dozen of the other: I can spend money here and get seen. Or I could be on the NHS, and wait. Or I could go private in the UK, and spend.

I will say this for the USA: 2 of my three have autism, 2 have ADHD, and we have had really excellent care from both the health and school systems. The laws on special education are stronger here, and the wait times for services are shorter in most places. They weren't zero, but my children did not wait years for diagnosis, and it was much harder for the schools to refuse them IEPs (the American equivalent of EHCPs). Honestly, it is one thing that kept us from moving back to the UK when Trump was elected; based on my SIL's experience particularly, we thought my DC would do very badly with the change.

Yes. We paid for a surgery last year that I had. Our payment was somewhere between $2000-3000 but the total bill was $165,000. I shit you not. You could buy a house in Pensylvania for that amount. I had an IUD fitted last week and while I only had to pay $20 the insurance paid $6000

It is totally insane.

And when you don't have insurance, or medicaid, you just are left to suffer and die.

I know the NHS is in a terrible state, but at least it exists.

No, you'll be treated; it's a question of how much debt you'll have after. The ACA really did improve things. If only the holdout states would expand Medicaid! But the billing is ridiculous. It bears no relationship to anything either. The game is that hospitals and doctors bill for more than they want, so after the insurance company discounts it, they get what they wanted in the first place. When I did my master's degree here I learnt about how the prices are all set. Medicare actually has a formula, and private insurance may base their payments on a multiplier of the Medicare rate, but that doesn't mean a hospital can't make up prices from thin air and some do; there's been research comparing charge master prices for the same procedure from different hospitals.

Although I always say, if I got to design a system, it would be neither the NHS nor the US. The design of the NHS gives too much power to politicians, so no one can see the GP because the Tories wanted austerity and cut services to the bone. The US system gives too much power to private companies.

I loved it more before I moved there 🤣

That's true of everywhere though no? It's always more fun to be a tourist somewhere than to live there and deal with the day to day drudgery. If I moved to Paris it wouldn't all be going to cafés and eating croissants, it would be dealing with bureaucracy and trying to remember how to talk to the dishwasher repairman in French.

I live lots about America. We lived happily in Boston for two years and I had my first baby there.

I love so much American literature. Especially Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout and Katherine Heinrich. And the magnificent John Updike.

So much natural beauty.

My best friend's home and community in Burlington, Vermont. Such a fabulous place.

Clothes from Loft.

Absolutely amazing museums.

Everything about Cape Cod, especially the Cape Cod flyer, steamers and other seafood and the lovely beaches.

The comment about 'nothing at all' was supposed to be about people who have literally nothing, who as I understand can always get treated and then the bill written off. It was always the working poor and the underinsured who got stiffed?

So that's really complicated. If you have literally nothing, you should have medicaid. (unless you're in Texas but that's a rant right there...) Then everything is free.

If you have no insurance at all, regardless of your income, your costs are dependent on multiple factors including state laws on charity care and hospital policy. Underinsured people can also suffer.

The working poor saw improvements under the ACA as it became possible to get either Medicaid or subsidised insurance outside of work, though the deductibles can be high.

The worst problems are when people have chronic or long term illnesses. They often need to stay employed to maintain their insurance, and the deductible will reset each year. The costs add up, and the time checking up on the bills is a loss, too. I loved it when I was treated at a hospital where everyone was directly employed. There was no fighting. Everything got billed and paid together, one statement for my share, no surprise bills where it turned out they sent your biopsy to an out of network pathologist.

(If you can get on Social Security disability, you qualify for Medicare, but there's a waiting period of 2 years from your qualifying date.)

Once I get over the cutlery usage and open carry the space is amazing. Rocky Mountain national park, Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks stadium, Breck and Vail summer or winter.

Hate the having to drive everywhere mentality. Fil will drive from shop to shop in a strip mall.

To get back on topic -- there's tons of places in the US that aren't as focused on by international tourists but are still gorgeous! Upstate New York for example. Letchworth State Park is called the Grand Canyon of the East. Niagara Falls may be a tourist trap but the falls really are spectacular. The culture and food change everywhere you go, too. Not far from me the big thing is crabs, usually covered in old bay spice. They're smaller than European crabs and more work to eat (you crack them yourself) and it's a mess but delicious.

I would agree with that. They don't put themselves down in that fake self depricating way ours do in seach of compliments. The teens have massive vocabularies & seem very comfortable in their own skin

Mary Macs in Atlanta 🤤 I love the food in the US. Not so much the portion sizes! Lol. I also have some amazing American friends ❤️

Hawaii is also amazing. I didn't want to leave. Still sore that that one could have been ours 😭😂

Hah. I have some friends in Baltimore and the Old Bay obsession is unreal 😂

Just found out my sibling is moving to America with their family for a few years! I’m going to miss them loads, especially my nieces and nephews, but I’m excited at the prospect of getting to go and visit them! I’ve not been to America in almost ten years now.

My husband is from Western New York, and we spend time there every summer. It's a truly beautiful area of the country.

Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Grand Canyon was amazing.
I remember just standing in the Mojave desert and thinking I can't believe I'm here.
Lovely people and as a PP mentioned the homeless people in San Francisco were so polite and helpful. Wish they had more help though.
Catching an Amtrak train from San Francisco was a great experience. Makes first class train carriages in the UK look like 5th class.
I would love to go back and see lots more.
Also loved the food.

Loved New York. The history of the place and the feeling you were in some massive film set. The food, the museums, the Statue of Liberty and the immigration museum, the architecture and Central Park.
Been to Colorado a few times, the pacific NW and Vancouver plus British Columbia. Just beautiful endless forests, mountains and crystal clear lakes.
I’d love to drive down the pacific high way from Oregon through California with a stop off in Utah and some of the national parks like Sequoia and Yosemite. Or walk the Appalachian trail to the blue ridge mountains.
Weirdly I remember as a child flicking through the journalist Alastair Cook’s book about America. It belonged to some friends of my parents who regularly travelled to the US in the 70s. Found it fascinating looking at the photos. These friends were the first to go full out with Christmas and Halloween decorations, absolutely beautiful tree. They brought me a knitted hoody with Stars and Stripes on from America that I wore all the time as a tween ! I guess I’ve always been interested in the place !

Same here. After seven years on MN and countless America bashing threads, my flabber is truely gasted.

I was there for the first time earlier this year (Boston and NYC).

I loved that everyone was so friendly and can do (apart from Immigration and Amtrak employees).

I was entranced and thrilled by some of the industrial design - things like the trams in Boston, fire trucks, police bikes, the Amtrak trains, fire hydrants etc.. were enchantingly old fashioned, big and solidly designed.

ANGIEPANGY77 · Yesterday 18:33

Coastal Virginia

I haven't been there, but my Aunt moved there in 1970. After 18 months, she moved out to California and became a specialist accountant for wine companies. She was about 60 miles North of San Francisco, fantastic countryside! There were humming birds in her garden, who knew you got little dowdy brown ones?

I'm not much of a city fan and didn't enjoy LA one bit, but I liked 'Frisco, especially the Pier 39 area and Chinatown, riding the cable cars etc.

America seems to be known for straight roads, but the Pacific Highway, wow! Didn't like Taco Bell, but I love Wendy's.

We did a massive road trip in 2022 from Atlanta to Dallas, (we were visiting friends who live in Texas).
Obviously we did the return journey, and that trip totally killed my travelling mojo.

However after reading all the posts on here, I think I'm ready to start planning another trip Stateside for next year!
Great thread😊

Oh and I have to give a shout out to Whataburger, my favourite fast food!

I work for a big multinational firm and many of my colleagues are based in the US: I've been over quite a lot for work, mostly NY and Chicago.

One of my absolute favourite things about Americans is how much they enjoy holidays, even the most minor. Decorations and parties and special limited foodstuffs etc everywhere.

NY between Thanksgiving and Christmas is AMAZING!

I also love their 'meh, whatever' approach to the concept of distance. Most Americans would think nothing of taking the sort of journey for a taco that would have British people packing flasks of hot tea and endlessly checking the weather and road conditions. 😄

Love the US and the Anerican people. Totally get why people sometimes don't have a passport as the country has everything. I find the people warm, friendly and open. I got pulled over for speeding and was trying to pay the fine at a payphone in Walmart when some complete stranger came over, lent me his phone and stood chatting to my husband for the 25 odd minutes it took me to sort it out. Scenery is just unreal. We drove from the mountains of Colorado to Monument Valley one day and I'll never forget just how radically the landscape changed. Would go back tomorrow if I could!