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adamisom

not sure what's socialist about it. farming is a weird sector though (and a small one; crucial, of course)

>the least efficient healthcare system in the world

and the most advanced healthcare

>ineffectual public education

actually it's better than most rich countries after controlling for race/ethnicity

that said, healthcare, education, and most of all housing are massively far from free markets, they're the most regulated parts and it's hard to innovate. the more free you make those markets, the better they'll get.

>massive wealth disparity

because, and this is no exaggeration, we are way fucking wealthier than almost anything except oil-rich Norway and tiny Luxembourg. it's a lot easier to have disparity when some grasses grow tall.

>crumbling national infrastructure

depends; California and New York yes, Texas no

>and a different school shooting every week

not that often but this is an american pathology yeah

View on HN

> and the most advanced healthcare

(ignoring Australia and other countries having longer life expectancies and better cancer recovery rates, sure)

> not that often

It's telling you have to downplay this at all.

> depends; California and New York yes, Texas no

and the more than 40 other states? See the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Infrastructure Report Card (spoiler, it's a C)

>>crumbling national infrastructure

> depends; California and New York yes, Texas no

lol. lmao.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis

They didn't build sheds around the wells that were insulated enough so the wellheads froze up from the water in the extract, not due to crumbling infra. Now, whether they've fixed the problem, I guess we'll see the next time it hits 0°F.

> the least efficient healthcare system in the world

> the more free you make those markets, the better they'll get.

How can you concede the first point and argue the second in the same breath? Are you about to tell me European healthcare is cheaper because its some bastiom of deregulation?

European healthcare sucks. Waiting for your appointment for months is not unheard of. (I can’t compare EU and US, but my guess is the problems are largely the same, just less pronounced.)

I've heard stories of USians waiting months for their insurer to agree to pay...

And that’s if they even agree to pay. My wife needed heart surgery and we fought with insurance for two and a half years. I eventually had to change jobs to get a new insurance provider who would cover it.

You have fallen for propaganda.

I recently moved to Ireland (an EU country).

When I wanted to get set up with a new GP, I was offered an appointment the same week. I wasn't ready to actually go in yet, so I asked for one the following week. My wife needed some specialty care, and when we made the appointment they were very apologetic that they could't give us an appointment until 2.5 weeks later. (For a non-emergency consult, preparatory to a specialty surgery.)

Meanwhile, in the US, when we tried to make GP appointments, they were routinely not available until 6-8 weeks later. And that's if it was even possible; we had 2 GPs just leave the area over the course of a few years, and in both cases we were left to find our own replacements, despite the fact that both were part of larger medical practices with at least a half-dozen GPs each (plus others).

I’m going by my own experience (Estonia) and stories by my friends (mostly Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK). Glad to hear it’s better in Ireland! I’ve also heard some good things about Poland.

***

From my experience in Estonia, any specialty care routinely has month+ waiting list. One example: I was trying to get diagnosed for ADHD, and a couple clinics were ready to make an appointment for me... where I could take the test, then wait a couple months until the actual psychiatrist can see me.

Then there’s dental care. I’ve had a chat with a nice girl who had, like, really bad teeth problems. Asked why she doesn’t get it fixed, and sure enough it’s nearly impossible to get an appointment on state insurance, and paying out of pocket was way too expensive for her. (We’ve joked about getting her a Russian visa so she could just go to St. Petersburg like I’ve been doing for my dental problems; of course, that was before the full-blown Russo-Ukrainian war.)

GP and emergency care are great. One night out I’ve twisted an ankle, decided it was not a big deal, so I got home, and woke up in the morning barely able to walk. Took an Uber, got to the nearest emergency room and got an x-ray and everything in maybe a couple hours. I haven’t been on the insurance plan at the moment, so at first I was quoted around 400 €, but after some back-and-forth I’ve learned that for same day accidents the rate is lower. Told them it was at 1am, so the final price was 5 € :-)

***

I don’t doubt it’s way worse in the US (never been!) My point is rather that regulation doesn’t really help here. We need to make incentives to have more affordable options, and make it easier to get to the market.

I’m now seeing a psychiatrist in Thailand for around $45 a session, and sure, everything is cheaper in Thailand, but the best part is I never have to wait more than a week to get a slot, and it’s all online. The most difficult part for me is going to Thailand every couple of months to pick up the meds.

so advanced healthcare that maternal death ratio is higher than russia.

> actually it's better than most rich countries after controlling for race/ethnicity

Yikes dude

> actually it's better than most rich countries after controlling for race/ethnicity

Our public education is so pozzed in Dem/Blue states, though; that has nothing to do with ethnic makeup in the students. Bloated budgets fueling insidious DEI agendas with openly consumer-hostile teachers unions. Maybe in sane states it's better.

> and the most advanced healthcare

We have miraculously great trauma medicine and surgery and diagnostics. The NICU medicine I've seen at work is like science fiction.

That said, I'd argue my family doctor is just a brainless expert system for prescribing toxic pharma products. There's nothing healthful about that aspect of our healthcare. The terrible US diet and these wretched drugs are why we're so sick and the trauma doctors are so busy. It's complicated why it costs a fortune and yet we're so sick.

Americans need consumer protections so badly!

>actually it's better than most rich countries after controlling for race/ethnicity

Can an American explain what this is supposed to be saying? Sounds like a right wing sound byte.

Are black people supposed to be inherently less healthy???

They actually said that about education, so we are supposed to believe that eg black people are inherently less smart. I stopped reading their post before this tho :)

It's about schools. Black Americans have worse education outcomes on average because of poverty, racial bias, unequal school funding and a culture where education is not as valued as with, say, Chinese Americans.

Saying this is something you need to "control for" is complete statistical nonsense. You wouldn't say "the accessibility in this building is better than average after controlling for wheelchair use".

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