American economic dominance

[tooblue]

Insecurities. Lol.

Irony alert.

like starting a thread bragging about economic dominance

[Green Monstah]

I thought we were all just joking.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I thought we were all just joking.

It’s a fun topic! For most of us.

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[dabrockster]

I am an American born and raised in the great state of Utah. My family traces back six plus generations to Nauvoo. I married a Canadian. Her family traces back six plus generations in Canada, and my mother in-law's side of the family traces back to the Mayflower which means we are distant/not-so-distant cousins using the "find relatives near you" functionality in the Family Tree app.

When we were first married, we lived in Utah. We then decided to attend School in Eastern Canada. One job lead to another good job and then to a great job and we never left. We live in a very beautiful and ethnically diverse part of the world. It is a great place to live and it is a great place to raise a family—children and now grandchildren.

My family—siblings and parents (my father died of Pancreatic cancer during COVID) all live in the US, most in Utah.

I have lived in Canada for more than thirty years. I do not have dual citizenship. My life is very good here. The health care system is not perfect but it is very good/excellent. The second best hospital in the world is 45 minutes from my front door, but I don't need to go that far to access attentive care.

The wait times in Canada to see a specialist can be considered significantly longer than in the US if we are comparing all Canadians to those in the US who have good private insurance or can afford to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses. And we all know that does not apply to a majority of Americans.

As far as emergency care is concerned, both Canada and the United States prioritize treatment based on triage: patients with the most urgent, life-threatening conditions receive care first.

As a family, we have first hand experience with emergency care. Four years ago our 24 year old son experienced catastrophic injuries. Within an hour of his accident he endured 10 plus hours of surgery.

Fortunately, he survived and then spent several months in a wheel chair and after two years that included more surgeries, a lot of in-facility and at-home physio therapy and care, he has regained most of his mobility.

The only thing we paid directly towards his medical care was the initial ambulance ride. The $45 bill came with an apology. We happily paid it.

My in-laws are 97 and 88 years old respectively. They still live in the home they purchased shortly after getting married sixty plus years ago. They still drive and are in excellent health for their age. They don't wait for anything—again, the health care is not perfect but good/excellent.

I don’t generally engage with “little brother” comments and your style of denigration because I am not interested. I engage with Lebowski et al time permitting because I have been a member of these boards a long time and the boasting that really is masking some significant insecurities should be called out—by an American who is proud of his heritage but unafraid to embrace different ways of living.

I appreciate the personal story and historical background. All of your posts do not lend to being an American and had a little hint of distaste for what I can only opine is your opinion of American arrogance. So, it seems relevant to ask this.

I find it rather ironic that you state you don’t engage in “Little Brother” comments or mine, but your initial post which was good hearted ribbing turned into a continued Oddessey 12-pages later and still going.. Seems you engage and care more than you think.

[tooblue]

I thought we were all just joking.

We are having fun–it's an interesting thread.

[tooblue]

It’s a fun topic! For most of us.

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[Green Monstah]

Maybe God has TDS.

[tooblue]

Poll: 4 in 10 Utahns have skipped treatment, cut medication or delayed a doctor visit due to cost

https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/07/06/deseret-news-hinckley-poll-health-care-costs-medical-needs/

It's tragic that a country with such a substantial GDP struggles to provide people with access to heath care and medication.

[LVAllen]

Poll: 4 in 10 Utahns have skipped treatment, cut medication or delayed a doctor visit due to cost

https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/07/06/deseret-news-hinckley-poll-health-care-costs-medical-needs/

It's tragic that a country with such a substantial GDP struggles to provide people with access to heath care and medication.

Wonder if that figure includes patients who were prescribed medication but who didn't ultimately get it because a prior authorization was demanded by the insurance company.

[Moliere]

Poll: 4 in 10 Utahns have skipped treatment, cut medication or delayed a doctor visit due to cost

https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/07/06/deseret-news-hinckley-poll-health-care-costs-medical-needs/

It's tragic that a country with such a substantial GDP struggles to provide people with access to heath care and medication.

Were too busy working and making money to take time to see a doctor

[frank ryan]

Wonder if that figure includes patients who were prescribed medication but who didn't ultimately get it because a prior authorization was demanded by the insurance company.

I've seen a lot of folks lose their Medicaid over the last week and a half. They've had to straight up drop out of treatment.

[frank ryan]

Were too busy working and making money to take time to see a doctor

Medical events can straight up bankrupt people.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Poll: 4 in 10 Utahns have skipped treatment, cut medication or delayed a doctor visit due to cost

https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/07/06/deseret-news-hinckley-poll-health-care-costs-medical-needs/

It's tragic that a country with such a substantial GDP struggles to provide people with access to heath care and medication.

We should go single payer like the UK. It would wreck our economy, reduce the quality of care, result in absurdly long wait times, but we could avoid a tragedy!

Or we could go the Canadian route, and just convince people with chronic health conditions to kill themselves.

[tooblue]

We should go single payer like the UK. It would wreck our economy, reduce the quality of care, result in absurdly long wait times, but we could avoid a tragedy!

Or we could go the Canadian route, and just convince people with chronic health conditions to kill themselves.

Ahh, the cynical response: deflect and fail to discuss the problem altogether. Sounds a lot like MAGA

[dabrockster]

Poll: 4 in 10 Utahns have skipped treatment, cut medication or delayed a doctor visit due to cost

https://www.deseret.com/politics/202...medical-needs/

It's tragic that a country with such a substantial GDP struggles to provide people with access to heath care and medication.

Pontificate much?? Your good-natured ribbing has now turned into a full fledged obsession. This has gone from an economic topic to healthcare. And is rather laughable to skip stones across the pond and minimize the faults Canada has (which are glaring) in many ways economically and healthcare.

We get it. You love Canada and dislike America. Good for you.

As for your article. Interesting point to be made and one you obviously did not wish to provide was the following. But go ahead and act like this is a big problem for older Americans. When reality is the younger adults are the main one declining. I for one did this at that age.. Just not a priority.

Younger adults were far more likely to say they’d skipped a treatment or medication or put off seeing a doctor than those 65 and older, perhaps because of Medicare eligibility for older adults. The breakdown for a “yes” answer was 57% for those 18-34, 50% for those 35-44, 38% of those 45-64 and just 18% for those 65 and up.