The median person never runs into a life- or employment-threatening health issue during their working life. If you happen to get unlucky, the French system is no doubt better. But for everyone else, they have more money in their pocket.
That's definitely a trade-off. How much do you value the security versus the increased consumption possible with more money. But it is a trade-off. It's not some irrational choice that Americans made that doesn't yield a tangible upside for them.
>The median person never runs into a life- or employment-threatening health issue during their working life.
The median person might not, but for "employment-threatening health issue" a quite big percentage of people get into them, and for life threatening ones a large enough percentage to matter (I'd say 10% or more easily, due to cancer and heart attacks alone).
And of course the key words here are "during their working life". If we imagine that until 60-65 or so, this has been extended by people unable to get pension in a reasonable age or with savings eaten by health and such issues and forced to come back into working life.
That's definitely a trade-off. How much do you value the security versus the increased consumption possible with more money. But it is a trade-off. It's not some irrational choice that Americans made that doesn't yield a tangible upside for them.