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Health coverage in Maine is about the most expensive in the United States. If you're determined to move to the US and health insurance costs are a factor, I'd suggest looking at someplace like New Hampshire or another state. You're wise to consider Canada as an alternative. Vancouver is very nice, although IMO getting crowded and expensive. I have a personal fondness for Prince Edward Island, but the winters there might not be to your liking. Halifax, Nova Scotia, is also nice.
And you're quite right in your comments about our social services. There's a reason why almost all the increase in personal income in the US since 1979 has gone to the top 20 percent of the population. The rich have gotten much richer, and the rest have suffered for it.
Once again, thank you for all the really helpful replies from everyone. I like to do my homework and don't want to move all the way to Maine to find out I love the place but can't afford to have a cold !
Nobody likes paying taxes but I believe they are a necessary evil which makes for a fairer society and provides the most vulnerable with crucial things like health coverage, education etc... and the social "net" as we call it protects those who need it the most as well as everyone else.
It sounds as though Canada is definitely a more viable option for us. We are not really thinking of immigrating as such but fancied a change of scenery and would quite like 3 or 4 years out of the UK.
I do hope the American government "sees the light" though ( fat chance I hear you say ! ) and starts providing its citizens with decent access to basic things like a free medical system , free education and paid leave. You work longer hours and get less for it. Doesn't seem right.
Maine will still be on our favourite places to visit though, and we are already planning a "fix" for next year. The US dollar is pretty advantageous for us over here at the moment so expect an influx of tourists!
I have a particular fondness for Belfast which I loved. I couldn't really explain why, it felt like such a nice place, not as touristy and over-prettified as Camden, more real somehow, with a nice sense of community and we met some really lovely people too .
Anyway thank you to you guys out there, some really helpful and honest comments and much appreciated.
Good luck with getting the government you deserve !
Both Political parties here are slaves to the Health care industrial complex Moose- although it is fairly objective to say that Conservatives and the Republican party are the worse of the two.
Health care in the USA is a vital cog in the economy- a cash cow that benefits the few at the expense of a growing underclass, and even middle class who cannot now afford decent health care.
Social Darwinism is alive and well in the USA- The strong and well connected and rich survive- those weaker are like road kill.
I would migrate to Canada if I where you- totally avoid the USA-its a toxic country in many ways
Thanks Skytrekker. It's such a shame that the system is not there to benefit the people. God knows our UK government is hardly perfect but at least I feel that being poor or sick is not tantamount to a crime ! We are quite lucky as we are doing OK by a lot of people's standards but it is reassuring to know that should one of us fall very ill or lose their job we will be looked after.
So much for democracy though if voters have no influence on government policies. For example here both main parties, Labour and the Conservatives know that certain issues are not to be tampered with as it would be political suicide. It's funny how we ( US and the UK) seem so similar and close in a lot of ways and yet there is such a gap, political and socio cultural. Don't forget though that we did not have most of the social benefits we have now in the UK mostly until the 30s/40s and that the war and social changes ( the Jarrow march in the 30s for example) enabled people to fight for better living and working conditions. Unfortunately government never gives you anything unless you really fight for it tooth and nail. I suspect had people not been willing to have general strikes, march and die for it most British people would all mostly be still working in Northern mines and cotton mills in dreadful conditions.
So hopefully the US will come to its senses and realise that one of its greatest asset is its people. If you look politically at the rest of the world recently there is a great hopeful tide of people taking power back and rebelling against the big corporate world which is trying to devour them, and has done so far a pretty good job of it. I remain optimistically pessimistic about the future of our world but would like to believe we do ultimately have the power to regain control. Corporations are after all ,consumer led and it the consumers stopped buying they would be stuffed and would have to take heed.
I don't know if you know it but a really good magazine ( published in Oxford where we live ) is the "New Internationalist". ( www.newint.org) (broken link). It makes you aware of all that is going on in the world but crucially of the positive steps people are taking to regain control of their land, lives and rights. I would recommend it to anyone interested in global issues, fairtrade and other ethical issues. It is very humbling to see how some of the poorest people in the world are fighting back and refusing to be exploited. I am very grateful to the generations which came before me and took on the greedy immoral system and won. Anyhoo, enough of my political musings.
TTFN
You bring up some valid points. Our societies are changing. One generation ago, your town doctor was enough that anyone needed for 'health care'. He had no fancy computers, he had few blood tests, and fewer drugs that he could prescribe. He could set bones, he could stitch you up, and he could hand you pain killers. Of course at that time, anyone could by any pain killer, and even being a 'drug fiend' addicted to pain killers was not a crime yet.
'We' did not have High Cholesterol, or high blood pressure, or COPD, or so many of the things that folks today have. We did not have any method of diagnosing these modern ailments, nor did we have treatments.
'Welfare' was an aspect of what churches did, to help the poor and widows of each community; and was not considered a burden for the government to shoulder. It was handled through the community and not through taxation.
'Education' was not a burden of the government either. Two of my grandparents taught in one room grammar schools. They received no salary. Families with school attending children donated money for textbooks, or wood / coal to help heat the school house, or pigs to help feed the teacher's family.
The 1930's and 1940's changed our society in many ways.
The 'great socialist society' that was built, became dependant upon government. Government's role in life became: regulating what a person can put into his body, providing a well maintained system of roads and how thick pavement must be on the roads, providing a livable income to those who are out of work, educating those who can not afford their own education and regulating that education.
In a very short period of time, we went from a society where only the wealthiest 1% of the population paid income taxes; to taxing 90% of the population. And the majority of the population receives some form of government assistance.
Hi forest beekeeper ( are you actually an apiarist by the way ? ! I don't know about the US but sadly the top 1% wealthiest here somehow always manage to evade taxes ! If you can afford lawyers and tax consultants you can probably get way with paying virtually nothing. There was a scandal a couple of years back about how Richard Murdoch one of Britain's ( despite being Australian) richest man managed to not only pay no taxes but also got paid for the privilege. A lot of tax loopholes, tax havens, tax right-offs etc ... It's obscene and really drives me up the wall.
Mrs Thatcher, ultra neo-con if there ever was one said "there is no such thing as society". What a sad view of the world. Like everyone else we moan about taxes etc.. but I am so glad what our taxes pay for. I have no kids and have no intention of having any , yet I am quite happy that my taxes contribute to their education for example . And if our taxes contribute to unemployed people and help them get back on their feet, I think that's really worthwhile.
Let's face it it is impossible to get wealthy ( especially really wealthy) without exploiting your employees, and all the rest of the people down the line such as third world producers and factory workers. The reason these people get so rich is because they will suck the blood out of anyone if allowed to. It's shocking and I am glad we are starting to question this. What shocks me even more is how many people look up to those leeches as a success.
Britain is becoming a nation obsessed with celebrity worshipping and it makes me sick. A lot of no talent, brain dead cretins with the IQ of comatose halibuts and they have somehow managed to become heroes for our modern age. What a crock !
High time we start respecting people for what they do with their lives, and how hard working and talented they are, not how badly they can parade around on our TV screens looking like they actually matter.
Bah Humbug !
Gosh I do sound so grumpy don't I ? Sorry.
Hi forest beekeeper ( are you actually an apiarist by the way ? !
Yes.
Quote:
... I don't know about the US but sadly the top 1% wealthiest here somehow always manage to evade taxes ! If you can afford lawyers and tax consultants you can probably get way with paying virtually nothing....
The same here. If anyone wishes to study the tax code [and I do mean anyone], they will see many methods to write things off your taxable income.
I have taken a series of courses offered by the IRS, and I was certified by the IRS to assist people doing their tax filings, for about eight years there. I got into tax-planning, and I learned a lot about how to budget your investments, to keep them fully sheltered from taxes.
Here, often folks may wish to 'blame' the uber-wealthy for the tax shelters, but really many of them are available to the middle-class and lower-class wage-slaves.
I served 20+ years in the US Navy, and while bouncing around between duty stations and supporting a family on that income, I got into collecting apartment buildings, largely for their tax-sheltering investment value.
So while I am not uber-wealthy, I have not paid income taxes since 1983. I have been tax exempt for most of my career, using the same tax-shelters that everyone in the USA are welcome to use. Our IRS runs courses for free to teach the public how to use them, yet most of their classes go with empty seating.
Here in the USA having a lawyer and tax-preparer actually tend to drag down the process, and keep some folks from really good tax-planning practices.
I have known people, who swear by their tax-preparers; and yet they are not fully sheltered from taxes. Whereas sitting through a free courses offered by our government would teach them to be fully-sheltered.
Quote:
... Like everyone else we moan about taxes etc.. but I am so glad what our taxes pay for. I have no kids and have no intention of having any , yet I am quite happy that my taxes contribute to their education for example . And if our taxes contribute to unemployed people and help them get back on their feet, I think that's really worthwhile.
I am glad that you like it.
I am not fully convinced in the socialist world view. I mean no insult, please do not take this as an insult.
I think that here in USA this is something that we were drug into, without any real public debate. Certainly there was no vote on these issues, and deciding that everyone should pay for all of these packages of brand new government provided privileges.
During the depression when everyone was focused on trying to avoid starving: large sweeping changes were introduced. Income taxes levied on the general public was introduced. Government funded / mandated education was introduced. Minimum wages and price controls came about. And our government began to grow into what finally has become a huge monster.
Quote:
... Let's face it it is impossible to get wealthy ( especially really wealthy) without exploiting your employees, and all the rest of the people down the line such as third world producers and factory workers. The reason these people get so rich is because they will suck the blood out of anyone if allowed to.
Generally, I agree.
However not in all cases.
Quote:
... It's shocking and I am glad we are starting to question this. What shocks me even more is how many people look up to those leeches as a success. Britain is becoming a nation obsessed with celebrity worshipping and it makes me sick. A lot of no talent, brain dead cretins with the IQ of comatose halibuts and they have somehow managed to become heroes for our modern age. What a crock ! High time we start respecting people for what they do with their lives, and how hard working and talented they are, not how badly they can parade around on our TV screens looking like they actually matter. Bah Humbug !
Gosh I do sound so grumpy don't I ? Sorry.
I'm not going to be political, I'll just say that if you're worried about health insurance, Maine is not the best place to come. Forest Beekeeper is retired military- he's earned his HMO plan fair and square and I am more than glad as a taxpayer to support his well-deserved benefits.
But unless you are retired military or government, or lucky enough like me to have a great job, it is a tough sled for healthcare coverage in Maine.
In fact, we made the New York Times today, due to the mess that Dirigo (Maine's half-baked attempt at socialized medicine) has created:
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Maine Health Insurance woes
