Living here vs USA, 2015

[dec]

What's the story with healthcare in the US?

we've all heard the horror stories of poor unfortunates getting hurt on holidays and ending up owing $500k.

But when you live there (legally) how much is your Bupa/VHI or equivalent?

Here in Australia we pay just under $500Aus per month for private healthcare and its not too bad.

For instance few weeks ago I had a bad back, in & out of casualty in 2 hours ( it happened on a Sat evening so GP not open) prescription issued, booked in for an MRI the following week and in the process of getting it sorted.

Dental work no problem, not too much to pay along with your healthcare plan, I paid $125 for two fillings.

Physio/chiropractor etc is approx $55/hour with your healthcare plan.

I always wondered how much this kind of thing was stateside.

Health insurance is through your employer in a lot of cases. For most white collar/professional jobs your employer will cover most of the cost which can be above $10,000/year if you have a family (I pay about $5K out of $20K for family coverage in NYC). If you are self employed/contractor or in a lower paid job you will have to pay most of the cost yourself if it is available. I don't have enough knowledge about the plans available through the Obamacare exchanges to give you any information.

[majestic]

I'd love to go and live in the US for a couple of years - however have been always put off by the VISA requirements? Is it not very difficult to go across legally - unless you have a firm willing to pay for it? I have a good degree, but fail to see why American companies would incur the cost of taking an Irish person, when there is a decent supply of Americans that would have the same qualifications.

[deiseach]

I'm really surprised at all the lack-of-community comments. A function of immigrants turning up in places with a lot of geographical mobility?

[J70]

I'm really surprised at all the lack-of-community comments. A function of immigrants turning up in places with a lot of geographical mobility?

I don't find it much different to Dublin in terms of community, although my extended residence in Dublin was in a series of houses shared with students and other young people i.e. we were never in one place for more than two or three years. Basically,  neighbours will mostly be friendly,  but it would not be like in rural Ireland where you'd be in and out of each other's houses much. Same in NYC. And there are plenty of clubs and so on, whatever your interest,  to get involved in.

[Syferus]

I'm really surprised at all the lack-of-community comments. A function of immigrants turning up in places with a lot of geographical mobility?

I don't find it much different to Dublin in terms of community, although my extended residence in Dublin was in a series of houses shared with students and other young people i.e. we were never in one place for more than two or three years. Basically,  neighbours will mostly be friendly,  but it would not be like in rural Ireland where you'd be in and out of each other's houses much. Same in NYC. And there are plenty of clubs and so on, whatever your interest,  to get involved in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ilzH2LG6Ic

I can't imagine what an American townie would make of a cluchie wave.

[ballinaman]

I'm really surprised at all the lack-of-community comments. A function of immigrants turning up in places with a lot of geographical mobility?

I don't find it much different to Dublin in terms of community, although my extended residence in Dublin was in a series of houses shared with students and other young people i.e. we were never in one place for more than two or three years. Basically,  neighbours will mostly be friendly,  but it would not be like in rural Ireland where you'd be in and out of each other's houses much. Same in NYC. And there are plenty of clubs and so on, whatever your interest,  to get involved in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ilzH2LG6Ic

I can't imagine what an American townie would make of a cluchie wave.

That be more of a skhyboy type wave. Prefer the more subtle one finger wave personally...

[Syferus]

I'm really surprised at all the lack-of-community comments. A function of immigrants turning up in places with a lot of geographical mobility?

I don't find it much different to Dublin in terms of community, although my extended residence in Dublin was in a series of houses shared with students and other young people i.e. we were never in one place for more than two or three years. Basically,  neighbours will mostly be friendly,  but it would not be like in rural Ireland where you'd be in and out of each other's houses much. Same in NYC. And there are plenty of clubs and so on, whatever your interest,  to get involved in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ilzH2LG6Ic

I can't imagine what an American townie would make of a cluchie wave.

That be more of a skhyboy type wave. Prefer the more subtle one finger wave personally...

The younger generation tends to be all about the skhyboy wave, but the father is usually a one finger wave man. The whole set of fingers might leave the steering wheel if he actually knows the person.

[Jell 0 Biafra]

I'm really surprised at all the lack-of-community comments. A function of immigrants turning up in places with a lot of geographical mobility?

I don't find it much different to Dublin in terms of community, although my extended residence in Dublin was in a series of houses shared with students and other young people i.e. we were never in one place for more than two or three years. Basically,  neighbours will mostly be friendly,  but it would not be like in rural Ireland where you'd be in and out of each other's houses much. Same in NYC. And there are plenty of clubs and so on, whatever your interest,  to get involved in.

I'd agree with that.  And as in Dublin, but to a greater extent, your community/friends will be scattered over the city, rather than living near you.  So it takes a bit more work to keep in touch, but once you make that effort you'll be grand.

[omaghjoe]

In SoCal community is very poor. Not alot of pride of place and it feels like alot of  people try to live purely individualist lives. People who spend their lives working here want to do nothing else other than get out and buy land where they can be secluded from other people. But on the flipside I know people who are moving here to retire, the overall consensus would be that they are mad tho.

Alot of people's social network is through their job, if that was the case in Ireland ye'd be considered a sad cnut. Maybe its a hangover in the Western US from the days when mining companies operated in remote towns and they were effectively ran the place, had their own currency and everything.

Could be a difference in attitude between the Western US and Eastern US, J70 but neighbours here for the most part leave you well alone.

Also Jell we do have friends scattered over the Socal area but the problem is the area is more like the size of Leinster than the city of Dublin, throw in the 24hr traffic nightmare and a young family and..... well you get the picture.

Dont get me wrong it suits me fine at the moment with a young family I have no time for anything else other than them, so dont think I would be overly involved in a community at home ATM anyway. However at least I would know whats going on out there, here I have no clue whats going on, or who people are, it can leave you a bit fearful and paranoid of people.

Within the immigrant communities tho there is community and a network but among est 2nd+gen of Americans not much at all.

[redzone]

What's the coin like Joe

[Jell 0 Biafra]

Also Jell we do have friends scattered over the Socal area but the problem is the area is more like the size of Leinster than the city of Dublin, throw in the 24hr traffic nightmare and a young family and..... well you get the picture.

Yeah, the distances here are obviously much greater than at home.  That's especially so when you're not in a densely populated area like NY.   

[Eamonnca1]

Plenty of community support in San Francisco, a lot of it centered around the GAA.

[Muck Savage]

The majority of the GAA is made up of younger people, people without kids. Once the kids come on the scene you can get isolated without family in the US. As I mentioned earlier, neighbors stay distant unless you have kids the same age.

Medical is outrageous expensive without insurance. We've had our fair share of hospital dealings and without having insurance through employer then we would have been in a serious state. Anything serious and your close to $1M very fast which is why you hear of the horror J1 stories. 

Is the place better than Ireland, I think its a matter of opinion. What you get involved in is very important as you'll never have a night out with the co-worker because everyone lives so far from each other. I would always say give it a shot, you've nothing to loose but if your not ready to take a bit of a risk it will be hard to make it work.

[Syferus]

Sometimes it's hard to appreciate something until it's not there anymore.

What do ex-pats miss about home, beyond obvious things like relations and friends? It sounds like a common theme here is how the sense of community can be non-existent.

I try to remember that there's probably never been a better time to be alive, and that Ireland does enough right that it's objectively one of the best countries in the world itself. That gets lost in the moaning about this that and the other a lot.

[Muck Savage]

Outside family and family events.

Tullamore Sausages, real rashers, the Ma's bread, a local butcher, Knowing the food you eat is not stuffed with preservatives, GAA, having an unbiased news station that talks about world issues, Local and the best pint of Guinness out of Martins Doon (the Offaly Doon).
Some people laugh but I miss the rain in the summer, this place is hot (~37C today) and from May to October not a drop of rain. There are other little bits that I miss but the above are missed the most after being here this long.