[jjav]

> Typical roofer in the US makes $50k (BLS figure). Not sure what he makes in Mexico but the median income in Mexico is about $20k.

If you were a roofer would you rather make 20K in Mexico us 50K in the US?

I don't know, but I doubt it is clear cut answer.

The insane US health care costs alone would eat up much of that if you're unlucky. I'd guess a young healthy single guy should take the 50K in the US but as soon as there is a family to support, 20K in Mexico may go farther.

[trimethylpurine]

If you're under 50k in the US healthcare is literally free. What country do you live in? Have you ever visited healthcare.gov? Your get an extra $400/child/month at that income. If you're Mexican and you're weighing working in Mexico, you should absolutely go file and then go to the doctor and get your head checked.

[jjav]

I guess you just solved the US healthcare crisis with a single comment? Since US healthcare is literally free, there can't be huge numbers of medical bankrupcies (but there are) and there can't be insanely high levels of uninsured and underinsured people (but there are) and low-income families have nothing to worry about regarding access to care (but they do). Closer to the HN demographic, individuals who wish to start startups can freely do so without worrying how to get healtcare if they leave their FAANG job (but they can't).

The other possibility might be that it's not that simple.

When I was playing around with startup ideas, not employed by any large corporation, your so-called free healthcare was costing me well over $3K/month in the US (not including out of pocket expenses, of course).

[trimethylpurine]

Average costs of healthcare in the US per person is roughly $560/mo. That's a little more than most European countries based on tax breakdown. Yes, in the US rich FAANG workers that decide to go startup are required to pay for poor bus drivers making less than $50k. That's called socialized healthcare. I don't see a crisis. I see the news pedaling whatever garbage they need to slander the other party, including painting crazy pictures about the US "crisis" where lifespans are strikingly similar to everywhere else. Next time fill out your forms on time. You get Cobra when you leave and if you really are under $50k the following year, then yes it's really free. Unless you're too lazy to fill out your forms, or your startup took off, you are just fine.