As an American expat living in the European Union, while I accept that western Europe is at times a deeply imperfect place with poverty, crime, injustice and yes, racism, in my experience I found these things to be far less acute than what my experience was in America. There are things that I miss about America, such as Twinkies and Mountain Dew. Of course I miss the green grass of home, family and friends but what I don't miss is the horrifying for-profit American medical system, the Tea Party and when I see a child play cops and robbers at a playground I don't worry about whether the police will come by and shoot and kill them because they're holding a plastic toy gun.
I also don't see large numbers of people holding up cardboard signs often with family members) saying "Will work for food". These things are dramatically absent here, or at least substantially reduced. Yes, there are problems of course in Germany in particular where Islam populations feel they are oppressed through racism, the same is true in France and Britain. Yet through it's imperfections and history, western Europe has come together to form a more perfect union referred to as the European Union which has a population greater than that of the United States and whose currency the Euro rivals the US Dollar in power. So I invite you in the course of this diary to be my fellow American expat and walk with me. Let me show some of the key differences of living here and living in America. It will be a difference to you that is immediately visually apparent.
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A difference that you can immediately see:
One of the immediate things a person notices is how good everyone's teeth seem to be, irrespective of their social background or the job they hold. Pretty much everyone that I see in sharp contrast to America has really great teeth. It doesn't matter if it is the chambermaid in your hotel, the waiter that is serving you, the meter maid, the street sweeper or garbage man, or the folks that work fastfood restaurants, even the unemployed all have compared to a huge number of Americans really great teeth, especially the children. Now I think that is something to really smile about don't you. I can't count the number of children I have seen in the past year and a half with what in the States would be very expensive braces, which over here virtually speaking are free. What an amazing, immediately visually, undeniable difference as compared to my experience in the United States. Western Europe is a large land mass with a population bigger than that of the United States, so it is difficult to generalize but generally speaking universal dental coverage of some type is essentially available to virtually everyone irrespective of employment status. So they don't generate media events where people are sleeping in their cars to line up for early morning charity care slots.
Another difference you can see:
While we can definitely see poor people in the European Union countries, there is a difference between being poor and deprived to the point of humiliation.
How many Americans have we all seen who work low paid service jobs, who have to wear what for lack of a better term what might be called ratty looking glasses. That is to say glasses that have deep scratches or gouges, that have been broken and are glued together with obvious big cracks in the plastic or they are held together with tape, perhaps even white surgical tape right across the nose bridge. In Western Europe that isn't something you see very much of among low paid service workers, because a basic set of eyeglass frames and lenses are made available to people and their children virtually free of charge. The eye test is either free or the equivalent of about $15. If you want fancier frames in the German system or under the British NHS as well as other systems, now those you have to pay for. If you want fancy lenses with no bi-focal lines, wafer thin etc.., those you also have to pay for. To reiterate Western Europe is a big place, so these things do change slightly from country to country, but basic coverage is generally available universally everywhere as it applies to medical and dental care to all populations, even the homeless.
A prescription for working families' future:
A trip to a pharmacy also yields an immediate, visually apparent difference, because little or no money ever seems to be exchanged compared to American pharmacies, which are regular retail enterprises because in Western Europe virtually any medication can be had no matter how expensive for a co-pay of a maximum of $25 US or usually less as a rough generality in most but not all cases. Most medications for chronic conditions in most Western European countries are traditionally completely free or again substantially available at reduced costs. Depending on the country in Western Europe for seniors and children, medications are provided at little or often no cost at all. Now isn't that a prescription for working class Americans' future?
Choosing your own doctor:
As I've been in Western Europe on and off for the last 20 years, I've never seen a medical plan where people were not able to choose their own doctors. Nor have I ever spoken to anyone over here who has had that experience. This leads one to ask the question, how is it that the paid liars for the Republican party are able to scare people with their prevarication filled diatribes telling them that under a public option plan would not be able to choose their own doctors, because the govt would do that for you. Wherein they forget to mention that American HMO's regularly not only choose your doctor for you but also your hospital, but I guess that's ok because they're not the govt, and to be quite pejorative about it, we're too dumb to know the difference right? We're also too dumb to know that health insurance companies regularly deny care and claims as well as ration care for the good people. As for the 50 million uninsured well the truth is we are to reiterate just socialized to step over them, therein empowering our politicians, with almost complete impunity even in the Democratic party not to give a public option in health care reform a fair hearing.
Collective responsibility versus individual responsibility:
What I see in Western Europe is collective responsibility being practiced. Wherein everyone irrespective of income, irrespective of education or social background has basic access to medical and dental care to include prescription plans as a right of citizenship, therein covering nearly 100 percent of their populations in a way that provides for substantive cost control to govt, business and society, because health care is considered to be a public good available as a right of citizenship. What I've seen in American society is that our leaders in govt and business lie to the people basically telling them that they can have a free lunch by shifting the responsibility away from the collective to the individual. Therein ignoring the postulate that says if you want good roads, clean communities, good infrastructure, good schools, good public services and a good health care system then you have to be prepared to collectively pay for them, because there is no such thing as a free lunch.
This is in sharp contrast to the Republican ethos that espouses it is ok to bankrupt the country if only it means enriching yourself, because medical care to these people is a private good and not a public good available as a right of citizenship. What we are therefore left with is the most expensive health care system in the world. That allows for Americans on average to live 3 years less.
Let's take a walk to the unemployment office together where I can show you some pamphlets where you'll be able to see that unemployment insurance in Germany when it runs out is replaced by a system called unemployment assistance, which is a financial benefit program that never runs out. While you're on the benefit program, you and your family members are medically covered, this program is not however at all unique to Germany. Other countries have it as well in the European Union, such as England for example where jobless benefits never run out and even people who are unemployed are always medically covered because your medical coverage isn't dictated by your employment under the British NHS health scheme.
All of this is to say nothing over the immense amount of fear and suffering and financial insecurity that the failed for-profit health care industry has hoist on the American people. That is why finally we need a public option, because competition works to improve health care delivery and access. We should understand that though the European Union is an imperfect place, they have learned many lessons of history that benefit us in real and meaningful ways. We can learn from each other, because when there's a will, there is always a way. We've made great progress in America but we should ask ourselves, can we do better? More over, do we deserve to do better?
Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies
http://edition.cnn.com/...
Of course there are some people in America who would never want change because they're happy with the status quo, but usually those people are associated with the Tea Party.
If we work together we'll always find a way to improve things because we can always do better and on that note of optimism, I end this diary and thank you for your support in taking the time to read it.