I touched on one of the economic reasons for leaving in a prior post to this blog. That is, the cost of healthcare in the US is astronomically high.
What I find striking and financially exhausting is that healthcare costs twice as much as any First World country which, at the same time, providing a level of care ranked 37 amoung 191 countries around the world. The clear reason for this is that healthcare in the US is a for profit business.
Insurance company and hospital executives feel entitled to their greed and have no legal, social, or political impediments placed on them that limit their profits. Making money takes precedence over providing services at all levels. In fact, services are routinely denied as a means of improving profits for the already rich 1%.
I get quite angry thinking about the fact that 50% or more of my insurance premium is acting as a direct contribution to executive profit for which I will never see service nor benefit. Unless one counts helping make someone rich as a privilege.
I might as well take at least 50% of my very high healthcare insurance premium out to the back 40 and drop it into a burn barrel.
By contrast, the World Health Organization ranks France's healthcare number one in the world. This, at 50% cheaper than anything the US has to offer. The US healthcare system is clearly broken. This matters to me because as I age I know I will need medical support. Staying the US would mean I face a great risk of being denied services. Or, worst yet, by remaining in the US I would be one serious illness away from needing to declare bankruptcy.
As an ex-patriot, I know I will be funding my own healthcare. I won't be able to take advantage of France's support of a basic human right directly. Even though it will be on my dime, by paying appropriately sized insurance premiums I will, however, have access to a finest medical system in the world, at a fraction of the cost of what I'm currently paying in the US.
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