I totally get where you're coming from, and yeah, €45k a year is definitely a solid income in France, no doubt about it. That said, I think it’s important to keep in mind that the median income in France is more around €30k, so €45k isn’t quite the typical experience for most people. In the US 45k (dollar) OTOH is below average.
Also, the French state seems to be struggling to keep up with the services it’s providing, and you can see that in things like healthcare access. Plus, with unemployment hovering around 7.5%, especially for younger people, quite a few are moving abroad to find better opportunities.
There’s definitely pros and cons on both sides, and honestly, a lot we could learn from each other when it comes to managing these systems.
I was only responding to the author of this topic,
@Pancreas who said they had $45,000 in annual income in the United States and therefore put myself in their situation to compare it with here...
With 30,000 euros per year for a single person, we live well in the provinces. Not in Paris, of course, nor in the heart of big cities. In my town, for example, it's good.
Young people who go abroad are recruited into professions which are not precisely those which bring you income of 30,000 euros per year...
PS. The current problem is that of access to city doctors, known as private doctors. It results from political decisions taken around forty years ago in order to limit the number of doctors trained each year... to limit the medical offer from which the French took too much advantage, said the politicians... And of the freedom of facility where the doctor wants it. And so, the countryside suffers from a lack of doctors, because young people don't want to live in a hole... My town is a medical desert... all the doctors are past retirement age... It's complicated... My cardiologist is 80 km away, my opthalologist is 40 km away... but the hospital is 5 km away... and there are 7 eyeglass sellers.
For the rest, access to hospital care remains good despite certain tensions in the summer.
I know something about this having recently been treated and operated on for three very serious pathologies without the slightest problem or waiting time...nor for the heavy care that followed. And my nephew, last year, had emergency triple bypass surgery. He presented himself to the emergency room alone and within a few minutes found himself in the operating room.
There are problems but it works!
And it's free for all serious pathologies: diabetes, cholesterol, cancer, operations for appendicitis without involving mutual insurance...
The model is good... My management by elected officials and successive governments much less so as well as the relationship of the French to what they believe is due to them: we are very demanding and . But that's another story.
And obviously, I'm not giving lessons to anyone, but basically I think that a social system which operates according to the principle of distribution (this retirement system exists in the United States and certain politicians would like to apply it to the medical insurance) is the sign of a society that is equitable because it is based on everyone according to their needs and everyone pays for everyone. And we experienced in France the funded pension system which ruined all retirees and nothing for health: and no one took care of themselves. In 1945, everything changed under the first government of De Gaulle who was not a man of the left... he hated Communism and rejected the excesses of unbridled capitalism.
Countries manage as best they can
It gets pretty bad some days and the amount of frostbitten fingers and limbs is out of control in our very cold winter.
