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Well, as a non-American, you live in a country with likely stronger consumer protection laws that punish the companies that break the rules of the free market (

Well, as a non-American, you live in a country with likely stronger consumer protection laws that punish the companies that break the rules of the free market (selling hazardous products as safe in particular), to ensure that the free market exists. We, in the US, have to rely on lawsuits to impose a cost on companies for violating the rules of the market. That's not to mention that we don't have public healthcare which will pay for medical expenses, like seeing a doctor from the chemical burns that you got while wearing Bose QC-35 II headphones as they exploded during normal operation. It's just one of these weird quirks of The Land of The Free™, where if you want to get medical care for the bodily injury caused to you by a negligent corporation, you have to sue them. I know it's difficult to understand to an Australian, but the lawsuit is what pays the medical bill.

jen729w 5y ago
But when I talk to Americans about their lack of socialised healthcare, a common response is that “I’ve earned my money, if you want your own healthcare, you get your own healthcare”. That might be a fine attitude. Until you get terribly injured and now you seek tens of thousands of dollars from someone else. Who do you think that this someone else is? Don’t you realise that it’s just all of the other Americans?
- romwell 5y ago
  >But when I talk to Americans about their lack of socialised healthcare, a common response is that “I’ve earned my money, if you want your own healthcare, you get your own healthcare”. You don't seem to understand. It's those Americans who assume they would be able to get money for health in case they are injured through no fault of their own by filing a lawsuit. They are also in the minority; 63% of Americans want universal healthcare[1]. Including the one you are talking to right now. Perhaps your sample isn't representative? [1]https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-share-of-americans-favor-a-single-government-program-to-provide-health-care-coverage/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-...
  - t0mas88 5y ago
    63% of the Americans deserve a better democracy. One where this number means they'll actually get universal healthcare... Because as it stands it doesn't work that way due to all kinds of complexities in the electoral system that seem baffling to a foreigner.
    - romwell 5y ago
      You are, sadly, absolutely correct here. We are pushing for ranked choice voting[1], which is slowly gaining acceptance in the public consciousness. I don't think most people here were even aware of the complexities of the electoral system until the 2016 election (when, for example, millions of people in NY could not vote for Bernie Sanders because they were required to register a year in advance as Democrats to participate in that election - so first-time voters were effectively excluded -- and it was a NY-specific rule; primaries are effectively unregulated on a federal level). With ranked-choice voting, the hope is that people will be able to vote for candidates that represent them without fear of "the other side" prevailing. Unsurprisingly, the two-party system is quite reluctant to introduce changes that threaten it. [1]https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV) https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)
    - alexashka 5y ago
      It works this way wherever you are too. There are no democracies. Democracy is like freedom, like God, like equality - political slogans that people who don't know any better take seriously. Read this comment for a polite and concise explanation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29112349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29112349
      - romwell 5y ago
        Pardon me, but when you say "it works this way", what exactly do you mean? The specific way the justice system operates in the US isn't the way things are done in Europe or China. In particular, lack of regulations is justified here by the logic of "we don't need regulations; if there's any harm done, one should take the offending party to court". If you're talking about how no system is truly democratic, or that majority rule is bad, that's a whole another can of worms, and outside the scope of this discussion.
- ryandrake 5y ago
  > Until you get terribly injured and now you seek tens of thousands of dollars from someone else. Who do you think that this someone else is? Don’t you realise that it’s just all of the other Americans? Well, in the case of a lawsuit, it's just that specific, negligent American (or company) that caused damages and owes that compensation. There needs to be some kind of system for compensating victims when an accident happens. With socialized medicine, everyone compensates a little, in the American system, the entity judged to be at fault compensates a lot. Not saying which one I believe is better, but they both make sense.

jen729w 5y ago

But when I talk to Americans about their lack of socialised healthcare, a common response is that “I’ve earned my money, if you want your own healthcare, you get your own healthcare”. That might be a fine attitude. Until you get terribly injured and now you seek tens of thousands of dollars from someone else. Who do you think that this someone else is? Don’t you realise that it’s just all of the other Americans?

romwell 5y ago
>But when I talk to Americans about their lack of socialised healthcare, a common response is that “I’ve earned my money, if you want your own healthcare, you get your own healthcare”. You don't seem to understand. It's those Americans who assume they would be able to get money for health in case they are injured through no fault of their own by filing a lawsuit. They are also in the minority; 63% of Americans want universal healthcare[1]. Including the one you are talking to right now. Perhaps your sample isn't representative? [1]https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-share-of-americans-favor-a-single-government-program-to-provide-health-care-coverage/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-...
- t0mas88 5y ago
  63% of the Americans deserve a better democracy. One where this number means they'll actually get universal healthcare... Because as it stands it doesn't work that way due to all kinds of complexities in the electoral system that seem baffling to a foreigner.
  - romwell 5y ago
    You are, sadly, absolutely correct here. We are pushing for ranked choice voting[1], which is slowly gaining acceptance in the public consciousness. I don't think most people here were even aware of the complexities of the electoral system until the 2016 election (when, for example, millions of people in NY could not vote for Bernie Sanders because they were required to register a year in advance as Democrats to participate in that election - so first-time voters were effectively excluded -- and it was a NY-specific rule; primaries are effectively unregulated on a federal level). With ranked-choice voting, the hope is that people will be able to vote for candidates that represent them without fear of "the other side" prevailing. Unsurprisingly, the two-party system is quite reluctant to introduce changes that threaten it. [1]https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV) https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)
  - alexashka 5y ago
    It works this way wherever you are too. There are no democracies. Democracy is like freedom, like God, like equality - political slogans that people who don't know any better take seriously. Read this comment for a polite and concise explanation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29112349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29112349
    - romwell 5y ago
      Pardon me, but when you say "it works this way", what exactly do you mean? The specific way the justice system operates in the US isn't the way things are done in Europe or China. In particular, lack of regulations is justified here by the logic of "we don't need regulations; if there's any harm done, one should take the offending party to court". If you're talking about how no system is truly democratic, or that majority rule is bad, that's a whole another can of worms, and outside the scope of this discussion.
ryandrake 5y ago
> Until you get terribly injured and now you seek tens of thousands of dollars from someone else. Who do you think that this someone else is? Don’t you realise that it’s just all of the other Americans? Well, in the case of a lawsuit, it's just that specific, negligent American (or company) that caused damages and owes that compensation. There needs to be some kind of system for compensating victims when an accident happens. With socialized medicine, everyone compensates a little, in the American system, the entity judged to be at fault compensates a lot. Not saying which one I believe is better, but they both make sense.