I moved from London to Lisbon and then to Brazil. I get the same kinda "wtf" reaction from Brazilians. The bottom line is, with all that's wrong in Brazil and given my circumstances and my remote well paid job, I'm a lot happier living here than anywhere else in the world. I truly love this place. I don't think one needs to try to make a place work for them. Sure you can try and adapt. But ultimately most people read…
You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
21–30 of 142 posts
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#22It's funny that Florida has such a pristine reputation internationally. I'm from the Southern US, and my view of Florida is that it's where 80% of the crazies in the US live. Anytime I see a batsh*t crazy headline? Florida. Check the articles you see from now on and you'll notice a pattern. So to all the internationals: if you like the US but not its extremes, definitely don't move to Florida.
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#23Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#24The grass is always greener on the other side. Being born in Europe and living here is suffocating me.
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#25The US has a lot more to offer than Florida, especially when it comes to the complaints (heat, health care and mass shootings) in the article.
Can you explain the healthcare differences? From what I know it is pretty bad all over the USA compared to say France or Germany.
At the other end of the spectrum, if you don't have health insurance, you will be bankrupted by the slightest medical emergency. You'll get care, but the doctors generally won't care about you. Oftentimes you end up going to hospitals that are poorer, with more overworked nursing staff that more frequently make mistakes. Even having private health insurance these days or a HDHP from a smaller organization still is a much lower level of service, with much higher amounts paid out of pocket. When I left Google I bought a private individual plan from Anthem, the same insurer I had at Google; despite it being the same company, my existing doctor wouldn't take the new plan, and I couldn't even see the same doctor I'd just waltzed in to see on Google's plan without paying $400 out of pocket or so.
Much of Obamacare's achievement and Obamacare's pain comes from being an attempt to spread the misery around, so that we don't have a caste system for healthcare in the U.S. It's meant that 20-30M people who were previously unable to see doctors at all now have basic health care, but it's also meant that many people for whom health care used to be completely covered, free, now have to pay something close to the real cost of their care, and they're finding out just how much the experience sucked for the rest of America.
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#26The grass is always greener on the other side. Being born in Europe and living here is suffocating me.
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#27With all of the options he had he decided to move to ex-soviet republic... Let's see how long you'll manage to stay there before ludicrous levels of corruption at all levels of society start making expensive healthcare in the US seem insignificant in comparison. I say this as Ukrainian/Armenian who was born and lived in the USSR and seen my father, who's a brilliant engineer, stagnate in the professional culture that…
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#28With all of the options he had he decided to move to ex-soviet republic... Let's see how long you'll manage to stay there before ludicrous levels of corruption at all levels of society start making expensive healthcare in the US seem insignificant in comparison. I say this as Ukrainian/Armenian who was born and lived in the USSR and seen my father, who's a brilliant engineer, stagnate in the professional culture that…
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, to be clear Health Insurance and the US companies that supply it often do so poorly (Kaiser isn't too bad except for mental health), but the healthcare itself can be top notch. People travel from all over the world to get the best treatment, but basic healthcare (preventative etc.) is expensive and not even uniformly acceptable.
The quality of health care is so high in Europe that I really cannot imagine any European going to the US for treatment apart from perhaps very few experimental treatments that are not permitted in Europe.
Re: You have options – Why we left the U.S. and moved back to Europe
#30It's funny that Florida has such a pristine reputation internationally. I'm from the Southern US, and my view of Florida is that it's where 80% of the crazies in the US live. Anytime I see a batsh*t crazy headline? Florida. Check the articles you see from now on and you'll notice a pattern. So to all the internationals: if you like the US but not its extremes, definitely don't move to Florida.