7 ms·
There are two things that give me serious pause about living and working in the USA, and that have made me not pursue or accept opportunities that I've been off
by buro9 13y ago
There are two things that give me serious pause about living and working in the USA, and that have made me not pursue or accept opportunities that I've been offered in Seattle and San Francisco.
1) Visas & immigration
2) Health
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoAfter spending more than 6 years in china, I can see the USA is not really that bad on those two points.
- blacktulip 13y agoWhat is wrong with China's health service? It is far more affordable than US
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago便宜没好或，好或不便宜 All the Chinese public hospitals are about long waits, giving red envelopes to your doctors, overprescribing antibiotics and IV drips, and scammy Chinese medicine. I have private insurance; the hospitals are way better but the prices make the USA look cheap. Put it this way: USA has first world health care problems, china has developing world health care problems. If you want cheap quality medical tourism, try Thailand.
- Dewie 13y ago> Put it this way: USA has first world health care problems, china has developing world health care problems. As one might expect of countries that are first world and developing world, respectively. When people complain about the US healthcare system, the implicit comparison is probably other first world countries.
- davidw 13y agoI agree those things are less than optimal in the US, but at a personal level: 1) The visa stuff is a PITA, but if you are in a situation where you can tell some company to deal with it, it shouldn't be too bad. 2) You get pretty good health care working for most companies in the US as a programmer. If you lose your job, you can presumably relocate to where you were before that has a different health care system.
- bertil 13y agoMost European countries have a health-care system that depends on you being part of the system: children of someone insured, student, employee, spouse, unemployed who was employed before and often manager of a company. Having worked abroad and recently coming into the country after non paying taxes (with presumably your life in disarray because the company you dedicated yourself too fired you, closed or proved to be a sham) sets you clearly out of that system.
- davidw 13y agoHere in Italy, if you're a citizen, you are covered, period, as far as I can tell. Naturally, you have to be in Italy, but other than that, I don't think there's any reason for them to refuse to treat you.
- bertil 13y agoIt is a common misconception. The official website is very clear: it reads “The Italian Social Security offers all people working in Italy” Until you find a job, you don’t have any benefits. http://www.welcomeoffice.fvg.it/common/are-you-a-non-eueea-citizen/researcher/italian-social-security-system.aspx http://www.welcomeoffice.fvg.it/common/are-you-a-non-eueea-c...
- davidw 13y agoYou're looking at the pension system for the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region. That's like social security in the US - very different from health care. If you're in Italy and a citizen of Italy, you are covered. There are likely gray areas for non-Italian citizens. They generally see you first, and ask questions later though, especially if you have the health service card, which any Italian would. I (US citizen) went to the emergency room once before getting mine, and the bill was €0.00, although I did have to buy some stuff at the pharmacy and was charged full price for it, for which the pharmacist was quite apologetic.
- raverbashing 13y ago
- wil421 13y ago2. Health Dont believe the hype if you work for a company that is going to sponsor your visa, chances are they will provide health insurance. I pay $25 a month for myself and $175 if I had a family of 4. My girlfriend uses Obama Care and pays $21 for basic insurance. Unless you are self employed then chances are you wont be paying much and now with the new health plans even these plans are affordable.
- joncrocks 13y agoEven with healthcare coverage however, it's just a lot more complicated. I'm from the UK, and if something is wrong, your biggest challenge is making appointments with the right people. Some of my colleagues from the UK who have had to go and see someone in the US report that it's a minefield of: a) Checking which doctors take your kind of coverage b) Co-pays c) Ensuring you know what you are/aren't covered for d) Random bills that may appear after you visit someone, depending on whether their interaction with the insurance company
- robk 13y agoBut in the UK, oh the queues to get in to see you GP... And postcode lottery if particular drugs you need are approved or not.
- thisone 13y agototally, I call my GP for a non-emergency and I may have to wait until the next day to get seen. Nothing like the states, where, in a similar part of the country (city/rural wise) I needed to make non-emergency appointments 4 months in advance.
- wil421 13y ago4 months in advance you are seeing the wrong GP! I could easily switch to a new GP if I tried to make an appointment and they were booked that far in advance. Can you choose you GP in the UK or are they assigned?
- untog 13y agoHonestly, the visa and immigration stuff is more of a problem for the company hiring you than for you yourself. As someone originally from the UK, I'll agree with the health stuff, though. The system here is an utter mess.
- cbaleanu 13y agoShould also add that if you are married, your wife / husband cannot work if you are on H1B. I found this deeply disturbing, as my wife is a skilled professional in another field and if I were to accept an H1B offer, she would had to become a house wife more or less.
- hpagey 13y agoA minor correction, if you are married, your spouse cannot work if they hold a H-4 visa. They are allowed to work if someone is willing to sponsor their H1B, L1. They are also allowed to work on F1-Visa, using OPT/CPT.
- eloisant 13y agoWhen I was in us, my wife has a non working visa. It didn't prevent her to find a job at a company who sponsored her to get her own work visa, about a year after we arrived.