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Comment by version_five | Hacker News Reader

I'm in Canada and the US is very appealing to me. More money, more personal freedom, better healthcare, more choice of food and other goods. I understand there is lots of disparity and some people are very badly off there, and I hear bad things about certain cities (but I'd want to do my own research before I believe what I read online). Overall though, if you're well off, the US is very appealing.

Just to add, recent events have made the US even more appealing, but the "brain drain" from canada is very real and people have been moving to the US to make a better life for themselves for decades. I don't believe anything has changed

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We moved from Toronto to Florida at the beginning of last year. Could not be happier with the decision. The US used to be much more of a monolith, now there are huge differences between the states.

All of Canada is still in a mass hysteria that will continue for years.

I moved from New York to Florida a few months ago and feel much the same. I have previously lived in Toronto and always thought of it as like New York but worse.

Every day that I live in Florida feels like one of the best decisions I've made in my life so far.

That said, the US has never been the best place to live.

Copenhagen beats every city I've ever been to by miles.

Could you tell me what you found interesting about Florida?

I am currently in the Midwest and deciding where to go next, specifically back to the West Coast where I lived for a decade, or branch out to another warm state (FL, TX).

Weather, roads that more than support the amount of traffic, variety of activities, quality of local produce, balanced political temperament (there's a roughly even left-right split but the local politics are fairly centrist rather than the extremes of national politics), local politicians aren't obviously corrupt (as opposed to Cuomo/Adams/De Blasio) or obviously absolute fucking morons (De Blasio) either, favorable tax structure, favorable civil liberties legislation.

Copenhagen looks like a lovely city but from what I can tell it's almost impossible to purchase real estate there.

As a foreigner? Yes, you need government approval which is extremely difficult to get. You can as a permanent resident after some years.

It's certainly a hot market as well, but there are a number of different options for financing. If your job is good enough it's certainly achievable and most of my software engineer friends there own their apartments.

Yes, I think the difference has been much more clear recently. Both countries have hysterical people, but in Canada everyone is forced to go along with the lowest common denominator whereas in the US you appear to have much more freedom to ignore them

Ran into alot of Canadians in Miami at the end of 2021, they were more political than the Americans! Looked like they were enjoying themselves though, just wish those particular people could just be present and not worry about whats happening in other states and their country.

Seemed more like shell shock from recently escaping and needing to find a way to stay in Florida, which can be difficult.

> more personal freedom

This is big to me (and not in a "muh freedum!" way). My perception is that in the US, you can just do something. Start a business. Start a political party. Start a protest. Change your name. Change your face. Change your profession. Change your religion. Change your gender. Some of those may be non-trivial, and you have no guarantee of success, but you can do them in the US easier than you can anywhere else.

I said "my perception", because I haven't lived anywhere else, so... yeah. My perception.

My perception is you can't even skip mowing your lawn without vist from local Karens claiming you are destroying their property value.

I think if you actually attempt almost any of the things you listed you'll rough some feathers of people in that space and they will retaliate, because USA freedoms rely on lack of central control that allows inordinate amount of local bullying.

> Karens

Off topic, but why is this term even remotely acceptable? If this was used to refer to an ethnic minority then everyone would be screaming "racist". Not to mention it's also sexists.

Ask all the Dicks you meet if they are offended by how their name is used.

It would be if it was, but its not so it isnt.

I definitely agree with the diminishing returns of remaining in Canada as you become wealthier.

I’m making the move this year. As a single income household there are a lot of tax advantages in the US compared to Canada.

As a Canadian living in the US, here is my experience:

Advantages

  - Higher Salaries (as a SWE, but similar for friends in other high skill professions)  
  - Faster, more accessible healthcare 
  - Easier access to COVID vaccines/boosters
  - Access to more products/services
  - Amazon has everything
  - Better credit card perks

Disadvantages

  - Actually using healthcare is expensive
  - Losing my job is insanely scary (losing healthcare) 
  - Way more advertisements (billboards, credit card offers, drug ads) 
  - Banking is way more fragmented
  - The wealth gap is visibly wider (rich areas are slightly nicer, poor areas are far worse)

> Losing my job is insanely scary (losing healthcare)

While this might be unusual, as I understand it, nothing really prevents you from getting your own insurance. Even if your health insurance premium were to cost $1000/month (which it likely doesn't), if your pay bump would be > $12k/year (+ tax) by moving as a SWE (which it probably would be), you could still go without a job for a whole year and still maintain your insurance. It would obviously be infeasible for someone in a profession with much lower income, but from what you said it sounds like it would be an option.

It has been a while since I've lived in the US, but I think it is completely possible to pay $1000/month for health insurance. For a single person, a family is more. Employers subsidize your insurance, after all. I was paying couple hundred a month for two people - subsidized - and that was years ago. A family plan was even more.

Even then, you have to have money to use it. On top of the insurance premiums, you'll have to pay a deductible. You'll probably pay $3000 (more or less) before the insurance even starts to pay anything, and then you'll have to pay a few thousand more before things start being free.

Prescriptions probably won't count towards these totals. If you are lucky, you will have good coverage. If not, you might be out a few hundred a month for a single drug. Depending. I mean, people have been rationing insulin.

> It has been a while since I've lived in the US, but I think it is completely possible to pay $1000/month for health insurance.

I just looked on healthcare.gov, and any plan that is comparable to a plan an employer would give you costs over $900 a month in premiums alone. The plans start to get "good", if you can call them that, at $1k. The last time I used COBRA, my premiums were $2k.

Oh, for a family it can definitely be more; I was citing numbers for a single person. For a single person it depends on your age I think. If you're young then it doesn't need to be anywhere near that high, but it of course gets higher as you get older.

It'll be barely below $1k for a single person, no matter the age, and it'll be considerably worse than employer-provided insurance. Young folks generally cannot afford health care, even with insurance.

Most Canadians would have to leave if they didn’t have another job anyway for visa reasons. Those 60 days would be difficult though. I’m assuming non-US citizens or PRs can’t use COBRA?

Partially. Depending on the Visa, Canadians need to leave within n days. However, it's extremely easy to re-enter as a visitor (B-2) and stay for 6 months.

Canadians are eligible for COBRA if they've earned income within the year. https://theea.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Whenisanemploye...

> recent events have made the US even more appealing

Such as?

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