> Why do you believe those salaries are the result of the American healthcare system? Per-capita, Americans pay more than anyone for healthcare, just in a very unbalanced way that dramatically favors those with a job over those without.

It doesn't really matter whether or not the salary difference is caused by healthcare or indeed that Americans pay more for healthcare. The only thing that matters is the post-healthcare take-home pay; if that figure is larger in American than Sweden for a given individual, then that individual is economically better off in America pretty much tautologically.

But what matters from the perspective of the American complaining about their healthcare system, though, is if they would be even better off with their same salary but a less fucked up healthcare system.

As long as that seems to be true, you'll see people complaining about it, and they'll have a valid reason for their complaints.

Your point is valid, but I don't think that's what we're talking about in this thread. Rather, we're talking about Europeans and Americans who have the perception that the overall economic situation of professional employees is dramatically rosier in Europe.

Personally, I think we should have a single payer system if only for the fact that it likely better serves poorer Americans.

The other advantage of a universal system is, it still works when you're so sick you lose your job. COBRA is not good enough.

Yeah, I was talking specifically about the "it would be nice to easily take a gap year"-sourced comparison of healthcare alone - though even that apparently is not so pro-Europe after all, with the folks discussing how you'd have to be actively seeking work to be covered.

Notably, Americans pay more per capita for Medicare and Medicaid alone than many European countries pay per capita for universal coverage.

> Regarding comparing tax rates, those six figure job numbers don't include the substantial amount the employer is paying to the healthcare company.

To be fair, in many European countries - and certainly for Sweden - there's substantial payroll taxes paid by employers as well. Though to end up at 65% in Sweden even with employers payroll taxes tacked on, you're already earning a multiple of an average salary.