> Contrast that with a former friend who had a similar medical issue in Europe. I also have "a friend from Europe", he's on government disability and it makes

> Contrast that with a former friend who had a similar medical issue in Europe. I also have "a friend from Europe", he's on government disability and it makes for a very basic living. Furthermore, should he be able to find work, most of that money will be taken away. He wishes he would've bought private insurance when he still had the chance. Two guys from Europe aren't statistically relevant, of course. > America has a real empathy problem. People won't treat others as they wish to be treated when they are in need. Being poor is an infection and they avoid you. It's not a need they reach out to solve. And being poor is very expensive. A society of individualists is no society at all. I must ask you this: Have you reached out to private charity and been "denied"? Until then, I would not make this claim. There's a difference between a society not caring for another and a society being forced into paying for one another's care through the government. The latter has nothing to do with empathy. Furthermore, US welfare spending is not substantially different from that of most European countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_welfare_spending#As_a_percentage_of_GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_we... Perhaps the US government is worse at spending that money than other governments. The healthcare system certainly is less efficient. That too has nothing to do with empathy. Even if the US population was against welfare spending, which I don't think it is, the spending is still there. Lastly, in any welfare system, some people will "slip through the cracks". Reform is possible, perhaps you can find some meaning in advocating for that, identifying what exactly went wrong in your case and what would need to change.