I'm just going to default to the: how do you think other countries do it?

I'm really tired of being told "we can't afford to give healthcare" "we can't afford to give higher education" "we can't afford early childcare" "we can't afford maturity leave" "we can't afford guaranteed sick/vacation"

Of course we can. The powers at be don't want that because it levels the playing field, costs them some money, and ultimately makes them less powerful.