A lot of Americans seem to be under the impression that nobody else on earth has to pay for anything -- that every country other than the United States has omnipresent governments that pay for everything ever and whenever someone has to pay a big expense it's only because they're stuck in America.
That's definitely not true. It might actually surprise some US citizens who have never lived anywhere else, but even in some places you might not expect you have to pay for things just like in the US.
In many countries around the world, there is no universal healthcare or it acts differently than something like the Canadian or UK system. A Chinese friend of mine told me many stories of people who had to make tough choices between paying hospital bills for a loved one or buying food. Many countries with "better healthcare than the US" still have health insurance you have to pay into to get service.
In many countries around the world, there are still homeless people and the destitute. Homelessness is at record levels in the US, but tent cities are popping up in my home country of soviet canuckistan. In 2022, 21.6% of the EU population, or some 95.3 million people, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion (according to EU stats). There is also homelessness across the EU to the tune of a million people per night, with numbers being particularly high in France, Germany, and Ireland.
In most countries, homeowners are still on the hook for large expenses. If your water line or sewer line breaks and it's on your property, you're going to have to pay for that in many countries around the world, on every continent.
So while there are definitely things that are better in other countries, don't assume the grass is always 100% greener on the other side of the fence. Life doesn't hit easy mode just because you land in some special country elsewhere.
That's definitely not true. It might actually surprise some US citizens who have never lived anywhere else, but even in some places you might not expect you have to pay for things just like in the US.
In many countries around the world, there is no universal healthcare or it acts differently than something like the Canadian or UK system. A Chinese friend of mine told me many stories of people who had to make tough choices between paying hospital bills for a loved one or buying food. Many countries with "better healthcare than the US" still have health insurance you have to pay into to get service.
In many countries around the world, there are still homeless people and the destitute. Homelessness is at record levels in the US, but tent cities are popping up in my home country of soviet canuckistan. In 2022, 21.6% of the EU population, or some 95.3 million people, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion (according to EU stats). There is also homelessness across the EU to the tune of a million people per night, with numbers being particularly high in France, Germany, and Ireland.
In most countries, homeowners are still on the hook for large expenses. If your water line or sewer line breaks and it's on your property, you're going to have to pay for that in many countries around the world, on every continent.
So while there are definitely things that are better in other countries, don't assume the grass is always 100% greener on the other side of the fence. Life doesn't hit easy mode just because you land in some special country elsewhere.
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