That's not true here in the UK. People do use private healthcare but they're in the minority and it's usually for expediency rather than quality. Many very rich people still get treatment on the NHS. It's very, very good.

I've never once even thought about money or insurance at all when receiving healthcare and I couldn't imagine thinking about costs when I'm already worried about my health. Americans are delusional if they think their system is better.

"Then I found out that this other country — which I thought had a healthcare system that was so superior to the U.S. — doesn't test for the tumour marker that saved my life, and doesn't cover this drug that is responsible for pushing my cancer into remission after traditional chemotherapy failed to do that."[1]

[1]https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/a-tale-of-2-...

The difference is that we as a country are willing to pay more taxes so that every single person gets drug coverage, and it's reasonable to expect that this will happen in the near future, even for expensive cutting edge drugs.

I don't think that's true. You can get free/cheap schooling and health care is always there for you. I would agree it's easier to move upward than in the US where it seems one of the big secrets for success is to have wealthy parents. Coming from Germany and now living in the US I am also not sure if the taxation in the US is that much lower when you add all taxes together. And if you or your partner has any serious health issue it's very likely that this will cost way more than any taxes you pay less.

So it's not just free vs. pay, but also what exactly you're buying. Unfortunately the single public payer in Canada system is a sacred cow, much like the idea of "socialized medicine" in the US is a non-starter. Everyone just digs their heels in and holds to the extremes, so the idea of small experiments of change never gets much traction...

The magic is that everyone gets this healthcare. Not only those able to afford the premiums for a very good private plan. On the one hand this is straight socialism. On the other it prevents bankruptcy (and downward economic mobility) due to serious health issues and allows access to quality healthcare to students, entrepreneurs, those between jobs, etc.

I don't understand how someone in the US can consider themselves more "free" than in more socialist countries when they're deeply beholden to their employers for basics like medical care.

My impression is that this varies a lot by country. For example that might be true in Australia and Canada, but not France or Germany. There are many different ways to implement universal healthcare.

This is true, but this is not that bad. The basic social security indeed stop being a thing once you earn enough. But if you earn that much, your work will provide you with an insurance that start at 50€/month to 250€/month that will cover A LOT of what you would have to pay in a private care clinic. You will still have to pay for the surgeon (especially if he is well known), but not the full cost.

I’m really interested on how much of your salary can you save after paying not just taxes but kindergarten, health insurance, unemployment insurance, pension plan, 25-ish paid vacation days etc.

Living in Germany I manage to get around 45% of take home money after fixed costs and taxes, from this I manage to save around 35% and could probably push a little bit more if I wanted to have a more miserable life and didn’t travel that much on vacations.