How many people have actually had the opportunity to live a decade or more of their adult lives in different countries? A very small minority.
Canadians love their single payer healthcare. They have no problem waiting a year or more for surgery. They don't think paying a 15% VAT is a burden. They don't know any different.
Americans would shit themselves if they had to deal with that.
Citation needed.
This woman was told she'd need to wait 2+ years.
Bennett was referred for surgery on her right hip in November of 2013 and said she’s been told she won’t get in until early in 2016. She said her joint has deteriorated so much she is unable to work or even function without strong narcotic painkillers.
[1]http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/patients-live...
Yes, I pay some spectacular taxes, and on a somewhat lower salary than I would probably have in the US, and as a result, live in a smaller house and drive a cheaper car. But the six weeks of annual vacation soften the blow, and being able to leave my nice bike lightly locked in front of my house and in front of a pub in downtown Nuremberg on a Saturday night makes up the rest of the difference.
As for the medical, my anecdata is that I've never waited more than two hours in an emergency room (each time, non-life threatening, just weekend) and that care was far less expensive than in the US, even as a private payer. One example while skiing in Austria: I fell and injured my thumb, ski patrol insisted I go to the hospital. I paid 20 EUR to take a cab to the next town. The emergency room looked at my passport and took my word on my address in Germany. A few x-rays later (no break), I had a packet of pain pills for the next three days.
A few weeks later, the bill arrived: 125 EUR.
Generally, yes we do. And here's a single datapoint: I paid lower taxes in Ontario than in CT, on the exact same salary.[1]
A decade or more ago I was paying less than 10% tax in Michigan on a $60K salary. I ran the numbers for Canada and it would have been closer to 20%.
Are Americans some kind of special subspecies where the bottom 80% of earners inherently enjoys being screwed?
Going from the system today to "no you can't go to that hospital" or "you'll need to wait 6 months for surgery" or "no we won't pay for the latest cancer drug" would piss a lot of people off.