I 100% agree with your quote from the article as well. The US is an absolutely amazing place when you are "the best". You get to live the hyperbole and talk about it too. What better place to do so? For example, the US healthcare doesn't suck, it's actually really good. But it's only good for those who can afford it. I've had to go to the doctor three times now in the UK (eye infection, sports injury and regular checkup) and every time I've had to wait 3+ hours to get diagnosed/treated. In the US, my healthcare meant I was in and out in 30 minutes. The US is a great place when you can afford it. That being said, I happily waited in line for the 3+ hours because I knew that other people are being treated for things they normally can't afford in the US. The problem in America, is that no one can even fathom a system like this. It's so foreign to the way we operate our lives (i.e. our culture) because everything we do is deeply rooted in transferences of goods and services in the form of money.
ps- I'm also an American who has lived in the UK, Germany, and been to 30+ countries. I share a lot of the same views as the author.
Yeah, in visiting other countries, my impression is that the average person is way happier with life, regardless of their financial standing. This in turn makes me happier. I'd be happy to pay way more in taxes in the US to support that kind of living environment.
It's hard to realize the difference it makes without traveling and meeting lots of people when you do so, though, and the tragedy is that the current system in the US doesn't allow most people the resources to travel and educate themselves, which seems to negatively effect the chances of having a well educated voting populace.
But you can get private health care in the UK and it's much cheaper than the US. In the US if you can't get health insurance—and I mean literally can't because you are a single payer where no company is willing to offer you a policy—then you pay out of pocket at a high multiple of the negotiated prices insurance companies get. The quality of the actual care in the US is top notch, but the system is beyond fucked up, and the lies spewed by the politicians are positively nauseating.
I'm an American living in the UK and I have to disagree with your assessment of the difference. First of all, most of my medical needs are taken care of through my GP who has never taken more than a week advance notice to get an appointment with, and the wait times I've experienced are actually far less than I've experience in various US health providers in Minnesota, New Mexico and California. When I crashed my bike before I had my GP, I did have to wait at a Walk-In Center, for about an hour, and ditto for Minor Injuries where they sent me after an initial evaluation, but that's equivalent to going to an emergency room in the states, because you can't just walk in to the nearest doctor there, you have to be "in-network". Later, through my GP I was able to get several osteopath sessions, a shoulder ultrasound, and physical therapy all of which was very well administered with minimal wait times. I'm not saying the system doesn't have problems, but it's nothing like the bogeyman of socialized medicine that seemingly the majority of Americans have been hoodwinked to believe it is.
ps- I'm also an American who has lived in the UK, Germany, and been to 30+ countries. I share a lot of the same views as the author.