9 ms·

I wish America had universal health care. If i do this, I can afford to pay for rent and food in a low cost of living area but not health insurance. Anyone kno

I wish America had universal health care. If i do this, I can afford to pay for rent and food in a low cost of living area but not health insurance. Anyone know of a nonprofit that pays for health insurance for ppl working on OSS?

robert_foss 8y ago
I don't know if moving is an option for you. But there are plenty of countries that offer free healthcare. Sweden, UK, Norway... the list goes on.
- krageon 8y ago
  Countries with proper (ie almost everyone has it so it is reasonably affordable) paid-for healthcare exist as well, though I'm not aware of one that would be as cheap as the US could be in terms of cost of living.
- dominotw 8y ago
  I can't leave USA due to Green Card constraints.
- skrowl 8y ago
  About that "free" healthcare in Sweden, etc... If you make $60,000 here in the USA, you can expect to pay about 22% in taxes (https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx) so ~$12,600. You move to Sweden and make that same $60K USD equivalent. Their tax rate is 61.85 percent (https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-rate https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-rate) so ~$37,110. I bet you can stay here and buy some pretty great healthcare (plus a lot of other stuff) with that $24,510 difference. There's no such thing as a free lunch (or free healthcare). Not only are your taxes covering your "free" healthcare, but they're also covering "free" healthcare for several people who aren't working while you are.
  - sudofail 8y ago
    I'd just like to point out that your figures don't add up. First of all, you're not taking into account that Sweden has a progressive tax rate, like the US. The figure you quoted in your second link is for the highest marginal tax rate. If you were to be consistent, you could use the figure for America's marginal tax rate listed in your second article, which is 37%. So apples to apples comparison would be that the US pays $22,000 in taxes at the highest marginal rate on 60k. Keep in mind that the US also has state income tax, which can be upwards of an additional 15%. Anyway, these figures are all kinds of wrong. You need to account for the progressive tax rate for each country, the state taxes you might be subject to, and the tax benefits / write offs that are available to you for your tax bracket.
    - skrowl 8y ago
      Sweden also has a 25% VAT (sales) tax on just about everything you buy there. After they rake hard from your paycheck they rake hard again when you spend what's left.
      - sudofail 8y ago
        Sure, but my point is that these sorts of comparisons are complicated, and the facts matter. Anyone can hand wave the figures and come up with favorable comparisons by including or omitting important figures. I don't think it's fair to make simplistic comparisons and say that Sweden pays 24k more in taxes on 60k income.
        roberto 8y ago
        Also, you get more from the taxes than just healthcare. Free education, eg.
        hacym 8y ago
        Is higher education free?
        8y ago
- dagw 8y ago
  Technically Sweden has very heavily subsidized health care, not free health care. There is a small cost involved with almost every healthcare visit and hospital stay in Sweden.
jopsen 8y ago
I'm not sure it's easy to find anyone willing to fund you to work on anything... But, Mozilla is a non-profit, while I worked there I worked exclusively on free software. And the health insurance fantastic. Much of what you work on a GitLab, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Redhat, etc. is also open source, depending on what team you join.

robert_foss 8y ago

I don't know if moving is an option for you. But there are plenty of countries that offer free healthcare. Sweden, UK, Norway... the list goes on.

krageon 8y ago
Countries with proper (ie almost everyone has it so it is reasonably affordable) paid-for healthcare exist as well, though I'm not aware of one that would be as cheap as the US could be in terms of cost of living.
dominotw 8y ago
I can't leave USA due to Green Card constraints.
skrowl 8y ago
About that "free" healthcare in Sweden, etc... If you make $60,000 here in the USA, you can expect to pay about 22% in taxes (https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx) so ~$12,600. You move to Sweden and make that same $60K USD equivalent. Their tax rate is 61.85 percent (https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-rate https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-rate) so ~$37,110. I bet you can stay here and buy some pretty great healthcare (plus a lot of other stuff) with that $24,510 difference. There's no such thing as a free lunch (or free healthcare). Not only are your taxes covering your "free" healthcare, but they're also covering "free" healthcare for several people who aren't working while you are.
- sudofail 8y ago
  I'd just like to point out that your figures don't add up. First of all, you're not taking into account that Sweden has a progressive tax rate, like the US. The figure you quoted in your second link is for the highest marginal tax rate. If you were to be consistent, you could use the figure for America's marginal tax rate listed in your second article, which is 37%. So apples to apples comparison would be that the US pays $22,000 in taxes at the highest marginal rate on 60k. Keep in mind that the US also has state income tax, which can be upwards of an additional 15%. Anyway, these figures are all kinds of wrong. You need to account for the progressive tax rate for each country, the state taxes you might be subject to, and the tax benefits / write offs that are available to you for your tax bracket.
  - skrowl 8y ago
    Sweden also has a 25% VAT (sales) tax on just about everything you buy there. After they rake hard from your paycheck they rake hard again when you spend what's left.
    - sudofail 8y ago
      Sure, but my point is that these sorts of comparisons are complicated, and the facts matter. Anyone can hand wave the figures and come up with favorable comparisons by including or omitting important figures. I don't think it's fair to make simplistic comparisons and say that Sweden pays 24k more in taxes on 60k income.
      - roberto 8y ago
        Also, you get more from the taxes than just healthcare. Free education, eg.
        hacym 8y ago
        Is higher education free?
        8y ago
dagw 8y ago
Technically Sweden has very heavily subsidized health care, not free health care. There is a small cost involved with almost every healthcare visit and hospital stay in Sweden.

jopsen 8y ago

I'm not sure it's easy to find anyone willing to fund you to work on anything... But, Mozilla is a non-profit, while I worked there I worked exclusively on free software. And the health insurance fantastic. Much of what you work on a GitLab, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Redhat, etc. is also open source, depending on what team you join.