[uzakov]

> Also, to any non-Americans its always important to put this in the context that "waiving" here means you're still paying thousands per month

Also important to remember the "take home" pay in the USA vs other countries. For many software engineers from the USA it would be significantly more than in other countries, for example due to the fact that there are a number of opportunities to earn good 6 figure salaries

[Joeri]

Do also take into account that the median wage in the US is only around 35K per year. Clearly most americans are not in line for a 6 figure salary, nor will they ever be.

[uzakov]

No dispute there, please see my comment below to "glenngillen"

[kingsloi]

That's one of my biggest arguments (see my post history). I am super fortunate I am a software developer and earn a decent salary in the US. I pay $700/m for the highest plan my employer offer.

I know I am lucky. I've met many, many people who aren't as fortunate. I worked for 204 days from my little girl's ICU room. I was able to make ends meet. My fight is for the average American, the $30-45k earners, who don't WFH, and have sick kids in hospitals - and are forced to work to keep their benefits, while their kid is alone in the ICU.

[uzakov]

I am really sorry to hear about your personal loss, by no means my goal was to create negative reaction.

[glenngillen]

Most people in the US aren’t tech workers though. And the pay disparity for many other roles, especially in the middle-low ends of the spectrum, are not very competitive compared to other countries with nationalised healthcare.

[uzakov]

Absolutely, no dispute there. I thought it might be worth pointing that out, since Ycombinator has a lot of IT visitors.

[nicoburns]

My understanding is that it's mainly only software development that has such a disparity though. Doesn't help much if you're not a software dev (or you lose you job due to ill health).

[uzakov]

Yeah, I think another field(though I could be wrong on this one) that pays much better in the USA VS other countries is finance. Outside of these field the situation is very different