Does everyone want to live in the US?

[AteRiri]

I was talking to an American friend and he made this blanket statement, "Everyone wants to come here!"

Is this true?

I went been once with work - saw no guns had great weather and found Americans I encountered very friendly.

But I wouldn't want to live there - the TV was shit, the news seemed all very local and badly done and people I encountered in everyday interactions seem less knowledgeable about the world somehow.

However it's an incredible diverse vast country so there could be a place within US borders that even I'd think was great - but I wouldn't want to be just managing or poor there though I'm not sure how long the welfare state and NHS will continue in this country.

God no.

Much of US heathcare is government funded: Medicare (for people over 65, no matter their income); Medicaid (for low-income people not covered by other insurance).

Obamacare is not designed for poor people as someone said upthread. It is for people not covered by employer sponsored insurance so it can be for anyone, including self-employed people. Low-income people can get subsidies under Obamacare, however.

Of course, there are problems with heathcare coverage in the US, and I do support a single payer system for all coverage (Medicare is a single payer system), but there are huge misconceptions on this thread about healthcare in the US. And the NHS is not free; it is free at the point of service.

As for abortion rights, they are certainly under attack in the US, but it might be worthwhile to point out that abortion is legal everywhere in the US, unlike in the UK.

Hat tip to the Lobster Roll, NASA and Basketball. Well done, America.

Horrifically divided country with guns and bad food and too many cars. NO WAY.

No, I would love to visit again (have only been once, and saw very little) and I'm sure I'd be happy to live there, if the circumstance arose, but it's not on the top of my list of places to live.

Oh God no, I'd rather live in the UK, with all its faults :o

I thought Mississippi had made abortion illegal? The poorest state in the Union no less.

Saying you'd never live here is like saying you'd never live anywhere in Europe

With DC, I wouldn't choose to live anywhere else in Europe than the U.K.

So as a expat living in New England USA,

We have guns, and conceal carry licenses. Guns don't bother us. In fact we feel safer here than the U.K. We never lock the house or the cars.

Can't really comment on racism, we live in a 99% white state.

Education is better than the U.K.

Healthcare is brilliant, my work pay for the medical insurance.

We love living in a remote isolated location where we are truly on our own with the wildlife.

In the U.K. I felt held back, and poor with no prospect of life improving

Live there? They won't even let me visit .... until i go get a visa (because I visited Iran and other countries described as the axis of evil!)

I'm staggered by many of these posts. The US is one of the richest and most varied and sophisticated countries in the world. Yes, I tend to agree that Hershey's is crap. So you don't eat that, you eat the wonderful high quality chocolate you can buy instead. It's a petty example, but it's one that numerous posters have raised.

The US has its negatives of course, as everywhere does. But most mentioned here seem to me to be in part imaginary (or at least rather misapprehended). Love the sweeping "can't live in America cos they're racists"!

And the guns preoccupation! Maybe I'm wildly atypical but in my several years living in America and many other visits I have never seen a gun. I realise they exist but they're quite easy to avoid if you're not in one of the classes of people that get caught up with them, whether voluntarily or not. I should emphasise that I loathe some states' gun laws, and guns generally, and the ridiculous appeal to the constitution in their defence. And I appreciate that they are a terrible symptom of problems in parts of society. But characterising one of the most diverse and culturally rich nations by reference almost solely to guns, and citing it as a primary reason for not living there, is, I think, a bit arbitrary.

Top of my list of places to visit, but bottom of my list of developed western countries to emigrate to I think.

Lack of maternity leave, potential cost of healthcare probably the main reasons ( oh and pledging allegiance, I'm far too British to be comfortable with that sort of thing) I might have considered it, but definitely not with the Orange One heading into power.

I thought Mississippi had made abortion illegal?

Abortion rights are federally protected under the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade and subsequent decisions. Any state law outlawing abortion is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.

Trump has vowed to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. At this point it would likely take two appointments. If that happens, abortion rights would then be up to the states so you would then have a situation similar to the UK.

But most women in Mississippi have no access to abortions as there is only one clinic? Is this true?

Ah, I see they get around the law by not giving permission to physicians who would give abortions.

Mississippi’s abortion laws are possibly the most restrictive in the United States. As of 2014, Mississippi has only one abortion clinic, and state hospitals have ignored requests to grant admitting privileges to physicians who have performed or may perform abortions (although this likely will change following a major Court decision, explained below).

travail

You need a second passport which is what dh does. One passport for going to America. Another for young to dodgy places.

I would quite like to live there. Amazing national parks and outdoors. I'd spend my time hiking and mountain biking. Northern California for me please.

Not only do I not want to live in the US I don't want to visit it any more. Canada however I do quite fancy, but it's also unfathomably massive, so I think I'll just happily stay here in a little corner of Sussex.

No way, Jose

• not so good maternity leave
• vacation leave averages for two weeks in a year
• unequal healthcare - brilliant for some, awful for others. Medical bankruptcy
• pro gun laws
• death penalty plus so many poor BME incarcerated in the USA.

Norway, Yes.

And yes, there are healthcare problems for the poor, which Obama has taken steps to address. But when it comes to much of US society, I think many in the U.K. fail to recognise that salaries in the US are generally significantly higher than for equivalent jobs in the U.K., and health insurance is factored in to that.

The bad food point is another knee jerk, one dimensional thing thing to say.

There's plenty of of wonderful food in US. California's amazing produce. New York as a global leader in food trends. The South's wonderful, idiosyncratic culinary heritage.

Don't just regurgitate lazy stereotypes. Think about it.

Possum My husband too. He has a 'clean' passport for Europe/America etc and a 'dirty' one for Afghanistan/Somaliland/Iraq etc. It's illegal to have two passports unless you have special requirements. My husbands job requires him to have two and has actually just come back from meetings in NYC. He definitely does NOT want to live there!

Norway is cold, boring and hideously expensive.

It's not top of my list of places to live in but I'd have no problem living there.

I had a bit of a nomadic childhood though so I can feel at home just about anywhere.

I do find the overt patriotism a bit hard to deal with - I attended an American school for a while (not in the US) and found the whole pledging of allegiance thing a bit odd but then again just about everywhere is a bit odd.

My main reason for not having a burning desire to live there is that actually it's quite similar to the UK. If I'm going to move to another country I want it to be really different.

Yes