Americans Deserve Nice Things Too
“Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.”
~ Robin S. Sharma
As children growing up in the United States, we were spoon-fed the idea that ours is the greatest country in the world. While it is definitely among the wealthiest, citizens of many other countries enjoy a better quality of life in terms of wages, working conditions, healthcare, child care, and family leave. People in America work really hard. We deserve the same basic quality of life that others enjoy in developed countries.
Health Care
In the U.S., we spend more than most other higher income countries but don’t get better results. A Commonwealth Fund analysis of data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) shows that the United States spends more on health care as a percentage of GDP compared to other countries, often with worse outcomes.
There are wide disparities in health insurance coverage and access to healthcare. Although the number of uninsured people in the country has been falling, 43% of Americans are inadequately insured. Even with insurance, the rising costs and expensive copays and deductibles leave many people unable to use their health insurance coverage because they can’t afford the costs. Too many people are turning to Go Fund Me to pay for needed medical treatments, whether because they are uninsured or to cover the high copays.
Most of the countries in the world have universal healthcare for their citizens.
There is a growing movement for universal healthcare in the United States. This isn’t the first time and past attempts have been thwarted by the insurance lobby and scare tactics.
Child Care
The childcare problem in the United States has been making life difficult for families for decades. Childcare is necessary for parents to be able to work, but the high cost of care and lack of sufficient high quality, affordable daycare options leaves families struggling. Unless the family is low income, they are on their own. This is not the case in other countries. While families in the United States pay an average of $10,000 per year for daycare for one child, other counties heavily subsidize care for their smallest citizens.
As with healthcare, the United States lags behind much of the developed world in funding childcare. Among the world’s wealthiest countries, the U.S. ranks 41st in formal childcare and 41st in family leave. The same report shows that the U.S. ranks 35th for access to quality childcare and 38th for affordability.
Family Leave
Today, 72% of mothers work outside the home, either part time or full time. When a new baby is born, the best parents can hope for in the United States is FMLA, which allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave without losing their jobs. Unfortunately, this is unpaid leave, so families are left trying to juggle the bills with less income.
According to OCED data, the United States trails behind 41 other countries in offering no paid leave. All of the other 41 countries in the OCED’s data offer some type of paid leave for new parents, with some limiting paid leave to mothers and others offering paternity leave. The amount of paid leave ranges from two months in Ireland to 86 weeks in Estonia.
This issue has become increasingly bipartisan, with the majority of people in both parties favoring paid leave and the current and former president each signaling support. The Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) was signed into law by former President Trump. This provides federal employees with paid leave for the birth or adoption of a new baby. President Biden’s plan would expand this benefit to workers not employed by the government. Unfortunately, getting anything done for families is not on the priority list of our politicians, as they battle it out in endless campaigns.
Wages & Working Conditions
It’s a widely known fact that Americans worker longer hours and take fewer vacations than much of the developed world. This isn’t something to brag about. We are burned out, underpaid, and exhausted. The United States ranks at the bottom in virtually every measure from wages to vacations and overall working conditions.
Although most people support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, the issue has remained stalled in Congress for years. Part of the problem lies in how minimum wage is set by legislation in the U.S., rather than by regulation. Pew Research examined how minimum wages are set and adjusted in 197 countries and found that only 17% set the minimum wage by statute, which makes it more difficult to update.
A living wage is important, so are decent working conditions. Sadly, we are trailing most developed countries in this area too. The U.S. is last in health care, paid vacation, sick days, unemployment, and retirement, according to data from the human resources firm Zenefits.
Our representatives in government are always willing to subsidize the wealthy and large corporations with everything from huge tax breaks to direct subsidy payments. When it comes to making life just a little bit easier on struggling American families, they suddenly start using words like “handouts” or “socialism” and do everything in their power to stand in the way. The majority of the people in this country want the same benefits enjoyed by workers in other countries. We need to demand that our leaders actually start working for us.
