[mock-possum]

… because you were born here, you love it here, all your family and friends and everyone you’ve ever known and loved, everyone you’ve ever cared for or care for you, all are here?

You’re really suggesting people should leave behind everything they’ve ever known and start a new life in a foreign country because of… healthcare?

[toomuchtodo]

I’m assisting Americans leave through a nonprofit, and some other efforts other people are running. I think leaving for more affordable healthcare is one reason (savings can be anywhere between $10k-$35k/year, depending on number of dependents/family size), but there are a lot of other reasons as well to leave the country. That is the lens through which I see this issue.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47161587 (expat resources)

https://healthcareinfusion.org/ (for healthcare workers interested in Canada)

Work, Invest, Inherit: How Americans Can Actually Move to Europe - https://www.bloomberg.com/explainers/how-americans-can-move-... | https://archive.today/IYsA3 - January 2nd, 2026

As this piece mentions, Americans are leaving in record numbers, so it’s clearly possible, and it is happening. Broadly speaking, everyone who wants to get out, should have the opportunity to get out, because better lives can be lived in developed countries.

The European Union is becoming the world’s “quality of life” superpower - https://thinkeuropa.dk/en/notat/2025-10-the-european-union-i... - October 5th, 2025

Best Countries for Quality of Life - https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-countries-fo...

If you love it in the US, I would genuinely ask: “why?” The collapsing healthcare system? The endless mass shootings? The low quality work environment for workers? The constant unshakable economic precarity a majority of Americans face? The higher mortality rate and lower life expectancy than peer wealthy nations? Friends and family, certainly, I can understand, but I don’t understand the desire for the rest of the trimmings of the torment nexus. It's an economic human factory farm with good PR (to convince immigrants to come for "a better life" who are fuel for the low economic machine) and running on inertia from the Bretton Woods Agreement, no more, no less.

Trump administration to End Medicare Drug Plan Subsidy - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49089358 - July 2026

What Medicaid Cuts Mean For American Hospitals - https://www.npr.org/2026/04/07/nx-s1-5776610/what-medicaid-c... - April 7th, 2026

States are Beginning to Grapple with Federal Medicaid Cuts Impact on Rural Health Care - https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/03/31/states-are-beginning-t... - March 31st, 2026

U.S. health care is broken. Here are 3 ways it's getting worse - https://www.npr.org/2025/12/04/nx-s1-5629211/health-care-bro... - December 4th, 2025

https://www.massshootingtracker.site/

Wikipedia: Work–life balance in the United States - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work%E2%80%93life_balance_in_t...

Most Americans don't earn enough to afford basic costs of living, analysis finds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44119317 - May 2025 (Report: https://www.lisep.org/mql)

Why Does the US Have Higher Death Rates than Other Wealthy Nations? - https://www.bu.edu/articles/2026/why-does-us-have-high-death... - May 8th, 2026

How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries? - https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-lif... - March 31st, 2026

International Comparison of Health Systems - https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/health-policy-101-i... - October 8th, 2025

We used to be able to buy things in this country - https://dannykatch.substack.com/p/we-used-to-be-able-to-buy-... - Jul 21st, 2026

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49027462 (additional citations)

And so, observing these record numbers and the overwhelming data and observations around current state and trajectory of the United States and its critical systems humans rely on I would say: "Those are rookie numbers, you’ve gotta pump those numbers up."

(have prepared to leave the US for Europe, but haven’t left permanently yet)

[thingswecantsay]

The sad part, to further reinforce your rebuttal to the parent, is that the high costs weren't even enough to push me out for many years, I am fortunate to be a high enough earner that I was on the beneficial side of the unfortunate "good healthcare if you're rich" quote.

The dramatic decay, however, of third places, trust, institutional effectiveness, political discourse, capture, and polarization, social structures and community, just to name a few, has been striking. The trend was moving slowly in worrying ways well prior to covid, but after 2020 things took a step-function in directions that I'm not sure are easily recovered from; Ibn Al Khaldun has some things to say about transitions from trust-based to non-trust-based societies and the role education, or lack thereof, plays in that.

I think you summarize the current zeitgeist well in your core point: "economic factory farm with good PR" although as of late the PR has been somewhat lacking as well. While it's not the first time in America's history it's operated in a modality like this, I am definitely fearful that we got Very Lucky with the new deal era and marshal plan era boom, and there is no guarantee we will get lucky a second time. I also want to be clear so this is not misconstrued as catastrophizing: I'm not one to predict the collapse of any empire; they tend to rot instead. It's more just a question of in what sort of environment someone wants to live.

As such, our household set about acquiring dual residency a year or so back. It's certainly not a future I ever wanted, I continue to be extremely active in our local community and political spheres, but it seems imprudent to not have a plan at this point.