I was told growing up that I won’t like socialism once I have to start paying taxes. I pay taxes, but would much rather pay way more taxes to have socialism. Including paying for social programs I wouldn’t use like welfare, free tuition etc.

Once I qualified for work pharmacare that was great! But I remember how much it sucked not having any health insurance. Yeah I bootstrapped it, but I’d hope we would grow up as a species and not have to have so much bootstrapping, since there are better ways at this point.

    • poVoq
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      12 years ago

      I happen to be European, so not sure why you assume this is a viewpoint only US Americans would have?

      Regarding health insurance… I agree the American system is insane, but the same time I would rather pay less for basic health insurance that covers emergency needs than being automatically enrolled in a mandatory comprehensive insurance scheme that eats up a significant portion of my total income (and the service still kinda sucks).

        • poVoq
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          02 years ago

          I think those things should be covered by a non-mandatory supplementary insurance.

          Yes it is a certain risk, but I would still prefer if people had a choice. Not having any financial resources for other things is also a big risk and might even cause health issues that you would not have if you could afford a more healthy lifestyle instead of being forced to pay into a mandatory insurance scheme.

            • poVoq
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              02 years ago

              The US system is uniquely bad, not sure why you keep going back to that as the supposed alternative.

              There are many countries that have basic government run insurance (Canada for example) that don’t cost an arm and a leg in monthly payments and still cover the most important stuff.

                • poVoq
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                  -22 years ago

                  That’s a bit like asking what would happen if you get hit by a lightning. Bad things happen sometimes and that’s life. Can’t have (afford) insurance for everything and neither should you be forced to pay for advanced insurance you don’t want.

      • @ree@lemmy.ml
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        42 years ago

        I pay 130€ a year for my health insurance in Belgium it’s not significant at all.

        There are a lot of variation across countries it’s a gross reduction to talk about the Us vs. Europe.

        • poVoq
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          12 years ago

          Yeah I wish there was an offer like that in my home country. 130€ does not even cover half of the monthly payment for mandatory health insurance there (but it depends a bit on your income).

    • @DPUGT2@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      The reality in the whole developed world is that of having a strong social welfare service

      Unless you’re a gypsy, then you’re somehow disqualified for it, forced to steal, and the theft is proof you never really deserved the strong social welfare anyway.

      I’m happy to live without the risk of going bankruptcy for going to the hospital. Can you say the same?

      The funny part is that you think that if a person has some catastrophic illness/disease, and that if they get to live at tremendous expense despite that, that it’s somehow inhumane to make them pay that expense or file bankruptcy. Not only do they deserve to live… but they also deserve to have a good credit score too! Like, wtf. How dare they not roll them out the hospital door in a wheelchair with a velvet seat cushion, how awful and cruel.