Why Everyone is Talking About the US vs UK Difference

Comments · 471

• RA

  @radman8321 · 8 months ago

  In the UK if you have the means you can go private and get your elective surgery in similar timescales to the US. If you need emergency care you get it straight away in the UK.<br><br>My 80 year old mother has developed slurred speech. She has had bloods, x-rays, CT scan, a camera down the throat, and two GP appointments all within three weeks of first presenting to her GP. The NHS &quot;issues&quot; are widely overblown by the media, who only ever report on the &quot;worst&quot;, and never the best.

  111

• IR

  @IrateAmphibian · 8 months ago

  I just wanted to point out that even knife crime is higher per capita in the USA than in the UK (and other European countries).

  146

• EL

  @eleanorearhart · 8 months ago

  I have lived here for decades, and I am never going back. &nbsp;Here feels like there is a safety net, even if you have to wait a bit for things; no one is going to leave you to die. &nbsp;If you ask for help, someone is going to help you. &nbsp; I had my first big surgery 18 months ago, and even though I had to wait eight months as it was not life-threatening, it was fine, and I didn&apos;t pay a penny. &nbsp;Whereas in the USA, I would be out tens of thousands of dollars. &nbsp;When it is life-threatening, the NHS is amazing. &nbsp;I work in a field where I am frequently in and out of King&apos;s College Hospital, and their trauma team is beyond amazing. &nbsp;Yes, you do pay via National Insurance, but that is very reasonable. &nbsp;I know a bit about the safety here, as I protect people in my work. &nbsp;The police here are amazing and caring. &nbsp;They go above and beyond even with limited resources. &nbsp;They will put themselves out just to help someone. I know that a few people will immediately disagree, but I have never met a horrible British police officer. &nbsp;Not having guns is really reassuring. &nbsp;There are specialised police who do have guns, but they are rarely needed. &nbsp; I feel safe walking in the city or countryside at all hours - even as a woman. &nbsp;In the USA, I feel like prey. &nbsp; &nbsp;People here just feel different. &nbsp;I have met people who have done bad things, but I can count on one hand the ones who have made me feel truly unsafe. &nbsp;People here feel more &apos;real&apos; - authentic. &nbsp;I would feel more inclined to place my trust in people here. &nbsp;It does not feel like everyone is just out for themselves. &nbsp;It is not dog-eat-dog - more sticking up for the underdog. &nbsp;Yes, I have less than I might have done in the USA, but I appreciate what I have. &nbsp;I also feel protected and included, and at the end of the day, I feel much more free, even though I cannot do anything I want whenever I want, which seems to be what a lot of people in the USA feel inclined to do - or aspire to do. &nbsp;It feels much more mature here, quieter, less hyperbolic. &nbsp;Boring for some, but calm for me. &nbsp;Yes, there are flaws here, but I can handle them. &nbsp;Looking at the issues across the pond at the moment, those issues seem negligible by comparison. &nbsp;I really hope that we never become the way that the USA is right now. &nbsp;I know people say that we are just a decade or so behind the USA, but for this, &nbsp;I hope that an exception can be made. &nbsp;A few days after I arrived here nearly three decades ago, I felt like I had taken off an uncomfortable high-heeled shoe and put on a cozy pair of slippers. &nbsp;It just felt right. &nbsp;I am glad that it is working out for you as well.

  77

• DO

  @donmaddox8898 · 8 months ago

  America doesn&apos;t have health care it has health business

  138

• MI

  @michaelhather9753 · 8 months ago (edited)

  Americans always mention higher taxes here. Let&apos;s put that into perspective. What I used to pay in combined tax and national insurance, is a fraction of a basic bronze US healthcare insurance package. Let that sink in for a while...

  125

• WI

  @winnywin · 8 months ago

  Many American&apos;s stay in jobs they despise just because it comes with good healthcare coverage. &nbsp;I can&apos;t imagine being less free.

  48

• ZE

  @zeddy_me · 8 months ago

  No. In the UK we <b>don&apos;t</b> rely on the police and the state for our personal security. That is rubbish, a complete misreading of life here. We rely on our <b>fellow citizens</b> to behave themselves, on their sense of personal and social responsibility. &nbsp;We don&apos;t fear being attacked any more than we fear car drivers deliberately running us down. It is just not an issue! &nbsp;And that&apos;s the thing. &nbsp;When you trust the people to live by their conscience, they live by their conscience and everything is fine - for the most part, of course there are outliers. &nbsp;A good example is &apos;jaywalking&apos; which is not a thing in the UK because we are trusted to cross the road ourselves by looking out for oncoming traffic and not stepping in front of vehicles. &nbsp;In the US, the citizens are not trusted and can be charged for crossing a road where they are not &apos;allowed&apos; to! &nbsp;I don&apos;t think US citizens have even the first idea of how enslaved they are.

  178

• SE

  @seijika46 · 8 months ago (edited)

  I can&apos;t help but not think that the most horrific thing in the US is that, thanks to such staggeringly open bribery of politicians (&apos;lobbying&apos;), there is a massive incentive to see people poorly educated, sickly and dying. Poor education encourages people to be far more influenced by simple outside messaging, saying that all their problems are due to such and such a group, they must live beyond their means to impress other people or &nbsp;be thought of as poor and worthless, to look for protection and meaning in cliques, etc. Meanwhile, if food safety standards are poor - it means that not only do production companies make greater profits, but health companies make money from it making them ill. Even when you die, the funeral industry is there to make bank from grieving relatives who are unable to do anything as the system is not only so hopelessly rigged but a lack of rights means they are exhausted from insane grindset. All this, even before the &apos;patriotic&apos; brainwashing.

  14

• HA

  @harrisonandrew · 8 months ago

  You have made your choice and therefore the balance for you is clearly with the UK. That’s great, it is wonderful to have you. As a Brit, I fully acknowledge that nothing is perfect in the UK, but my personal balance is UK too. I had the chance to live in the US but, despite the salary being much higher than the UK, the working week is much longer in the US, the working year is longer in the US, the reliance on medical insurance is too precarious in the US. In the UK my working week is 37.5 hours, I get more than 30 days holiday per year and medical insurance is not necessary, it can help get treatment quicker, but it’s not necessary to get treatment. Also, gun crime in the UK is rare whereas in the US it is out of control. So the choice is easy.

  52

• MU

  @mumbleweed2729 · 8 months ago

  The NHS has been underfunded by those who wanted to break it and then privatise everything.

  61

• ZE

  @zeddy_me · 8 months ago

  American &apos;freedom&apos; is the freedom to be an asshole. &nbsp;British &apos;freedom&apos; is the freedom from arseholes. &nbsp;A very important difference.

  144

• CC

  @ccs8575 · 8 months ago

  Glad to have you in the UK, lovely. 😊😊

  1