[weatherlite]

West Europe is far from cheap. Housing, childcare etc is unaffordable for many in the middle class (and as dev, you are in most cases in Europe not a very high earner). Universal healthcare is the main (last) advantage Europe has over the U.S (and its a big one.)

[kjkjadksj]

If you can afford housing and child care in the US you don’t care about healthcare because you are probably on a good employee plan.

[weatherlite]

Jee sounds like a swell arrangement for 20% of the population ...

[astrange]

More like 80%. Americans are simply richer than Europeans.

[int_19h]

80% of Americans are definitely not on what I'd consider a "good healthcare plan".

[signatoremo]

What is considered a "good healthcare plan"? Can you compare American insurance plans with Europe's ones?

92% of American had health insurance in 2023. Some people may have more than one insurance plans, thus the total number below is greater than 100%.

Of the subtypes of health insurance coverage, employment-based insurance was the most common, covering 53.7 percent of the population for some or all of the calendar year, followed by Medicaid (18.9 percent), Medicare (18.9 percent), direct-purchase coverage (10.2 percent), TRICARE (2.6 percent), and VA and CHAMPVA coverage (1.0 percent).

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-28...

[int_19h]

Dental coverage, for starters. It's surprising how many plans are extremely skimpy on this.