Actually, refugees are put on Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor. i.e. below,

http://www.tenncareadvocacy.org/serv...php?id=2_6&s=1

I currently live in Valencia Spain with a climate not to different from Florida even though its winter here and cold:curse: Saying that I prefer the cold weather to the hot weather given the choice. As for moving, have always wanted to live in USA even though Canada is much easier to get into as a permanent resident. Given the choice of location, would probably chose Boston-New York-Washington this area on the east coast have visited and love all three. On West coast would probably chose San Francisco-Portland-Seattle. Climate wise would probably prefer the west pacific coast than being on the atlantic east. As a big music fan Seattle holds a very strong appeal for me Even though I haven`t visited it.

And hopefully once Obama is in office these changes to healthcare can be implemented along with easier access into the states for would be immigrants and visitors. As said above living in Canada puts you within easy reach of the USA. Know Vancouver pretty well and for example Seattle is just down the road

Think you will find people complain about the healthcare system in Canada as they do in the UK and as they do here in Spain but the fact is these countries have one and the USA doesn`t.

Without a doubt Canada is a lot easier to get into than the USA. The USA usually only accepts those in high demand, millionaires etc but of course there is the easy route of marraige even though the long term outcome may not all be roses

In the States you have to have a secondary insurance to pay the 20% cost that medicaid does not pay for retirees.Medicare/medicaid usually pays for only 80%.That is what my mom did for years.The monthly premiums are usually about $90 to start then go up to about $170 after 6 years per depending existing conditions.It worked very well for her but imo no retired person should have to pay for medical care.

I think Barack will change the law to allow people to take their health care with them from one job to another and to lower the cost of medications and premiums.Those policy actions are easier to accomplish than mandatory health care for every citizen at this point.

I guess I shouldn't just pop onto these boards based on a thread title and make a quick gripe about things over here in England; unfortunately I don't have the ability to come on here much to engage in much banter. I moved back here to help out my family, my grandmother was ill and my mother needed a lot of assistance. I came back to be closer to my family and I didn't want to say I'd never tried living back here. Also my husband wanted to experience living in Europe. However, now we've been here for 5 or so years, I'm glad to be going back to US and I can't say we didn't try. My mum is moving back out with us.

One of the tough issues I have is that my husband, who is American, really can't be himself here - he's very outgoing and positive, so finds it hard to deal with the cynicism he finds in the workplace, although he's really trying.

I think that people who are in bicultural marriages always have to compromise - by definition, you can never be completely at home in one country or another. But I know it's easier for me to give a few things up that I enjoy about living in the UK to go back to live in the US, than for him to have to suppress his real personality.

I really enjoy reading these boards and they've helped me a lot when I've been at my wit's end about making the decision on which side of the pond we should live.

He didn't know the uk culture was cynical? Has he never visited?Had he ever watched a British movie or seen a uk talk show? Must have been a serious culture shock to learn of it the hard way by working in the uk as the only american(was he blamed for George Bush )at his job.How did he adjust to the pub culture?

Spain sounds wonderful why would you want to leave there? Spanish ladies running around waiting for the right man to catch their eye,great weather to play tennis,excellent culture,amazing food,easy travel to all of europe,reasonable priced homes,need I say more?

I will admit that San Fran is an amazing city to live near and if your home is 25 minutes away, the weather is usually about 15 degrees warmer.My cousin move there in the last couple years and loves the place. Portland Oregon is incredible very progressive very green and the winters are milder compared to Seattle. I only wish the weather was better in Seattle I'd move there tomorrow.I'm not a fan of the summers here in florida.I plan to spend the summer months in the UK God willing.

Actually, I said "immigrants", NOT refugees. Immigrants don't get the advantage that refugees do, just ask me, I'm one.. even if I'm not from a third world country.

I find the americans that I have met over here a lot less likely to laugh at things than the average Brit. When I was first here people took offence to my jokes a lot of the time, and really didn't know how to handle a bit of mick taking. Honestly I suspect that a lot of the time they mistake our sarcastic pisstaking of one another, and the general British sense of humour, for cynicsm. Oh well, too bad.
A lot don't even go into pubs (they have "bars" here, not the same for the mnost part), let alone adjust to the pub culture.

Hi,
I'd make a couple of points on what you said.
If you went back to the UK look after your mum, how well will the idea of having health insurance premiums appeal to her in the US, when she'd be able to get the NHS for nothing at home? How much money will it cost, and how well will SHE adapt being away from what she knows?

I'd go so far as to suggest that your husband stop looking at the English people as cynical, and just loosen up a bit. I'd say that the suggestion of the americans being more outgoing and more of a humorous nation than the British is bordering on ridiculous. He may well mistake the dark humour and piss taking for cynicsm, just like the americans did with me when I first moved out here.
Americans more fun? No,I don't agree, it's just a different sense of humour.

I'd agree with you that "bi cultural" (as you put it) marriages do indeed have a potential problem of where to live permanently. others, and the Americans seem to have less tolerance of other people's culture's, generally.. let's face it, more than half of them never leave the USA. It'll always be better to them here in the US than anywhere else. The culture and mentality is totally different.
Some people cope with a move better than others too. We lived in the UK for a while, but then moved here to the US, having been here for 5 years would we move back to the UK again? Absolutely, all it needs is the dollar to get stronger agianst the pound and the house sales to pick up, and I should say there's every possibility that we would back to the UK. My wife (who's an american) really loved the UK, she loves the people, the lifestyle, the culture and the humour. I like it here in the US well enough, but we'd have no problem moving, and after all this time I still have no real sense of it actually being "home" yet.
Different strokes for different folks.

Spanish ladies running around waiting for the right man to catch their eye mmmmmm that may well have been the case several years ago. Now, the vast majority are as about as practical and domineering as their northern european counterparts: Working, wanting equal rights, forgetting about their traditional role in society etc and wanting more of everything all the time and all the rest of that crap etc Now if you want Latin stunners look no further than Latin America As for the rest, sunny weather, beaches, culture, food and good access to everywhere in europe then its a great choice................Remember thousands of people from northern europe have holiday homes here. As for reasonabily priced properties forget it I would say you will get more for your money these days in the UK than you would here in Spain. In fact parts of Spain match SE UK when it comes to property prices!!! If you want economic property better off looking at France and if its bargains you want then Turkey and Bulgaria etc.

Personally I think the NW pacific area of USA has a great climate based on what I have read etc. Only negatives are its an earthquake zone but I imagine Portland is some way inland to avoid the worst of that.

You don't have to have it by law, but it's available, is that what you mean? My wife's great grandmother has "everything" paid for by medicaid, so maybe
there's an anomoly?

Agreed, no retiree should have to pay for health care. IMHO, in a country such as the US it should be possible to have a health care system to help every citizen, just as happens in the UK. If we in the US can afford to fund a war costing 10 billion a month, and afford a bail out of the banks to the tune of 850 billion... yeah well you see what I'm saying.

We've yet to see what President Elect Obama will do, but if you listened to his debates, his idea then was to have a health care system for everyone, not to have the insurance run fiasco that we have right now, "a choice of new affordable health insurance options", was what he said. Anything short of what he promised would be a political disaster for him. I'm still waiting to see what happens and whether he'll make that health insurance affordable like he said at the time.

It depend on what the subject matter is.If the humor is dark,and we know that Brits like to touch on controversial subjects,most Americans will not feel comfortable expressing an opinion by laughing at something considered not PC.But if its main stream and not too offensive then yeah Americans will laugh at it.

I spent time in Miami beach not long ago made a few friends some were Brits the others American and Aussies.It was interesting being in a diverse group and with out question the Brits in our group had the wildest sense of humor. The brits I met loved Dave Chapell because he like them will say anything.Not all but generally Brits tend not to censor their speak as much as an American.

Maybe this is just my observation but that has been my experience to date.There was one British dude(Very nice guy) with his American girl friend in our little click.After a few days of being with mostly Americans he was so happy that a Aussie had join our group because he felt the Aussie culture sense of humor made him feel abit more comfortable.He could say what he wanted knowing there was someone who "got it" when he said something in the opinion of others was considered a bit dark.

How is the economy in Spain?I'm aware the increase in home purchases has driven the world economy for years now including Spain. I would be interested to know if salaries have kept pace especially now that home prices in Spain have gone down.Have other industries sprong up in Spain to take the place of realestate to build wealth? Are there many well paid jobs?

Btw I agree about the women in Latin America.Spent time in Brazil and Argentina it was tons of fun

Right its not mandatory to have a secondary health insurance but it will come in handy if the retiree does become ill.Most doctor in office visits are covered by either medicaid or medicare up to a certain amount of visits per calendar year and or dollar amount per year.But a person with cronic problems who has to go to see a doctor every month will be billed for any overage that medicaid does not pay for.

My mother's secondary always took care of those charges.Thankfully most secondary's are usually not too expensive.She bought her policy at the age of 68 and really never needed it until she turned about 71.But from 71 until mom passed at 78,the insurance made a HUGH difference for her health care.

Btw these are private insurance policies that can be found on the internet.If you want the website address let me know.My cousin in north carolina who is a agent sold my mother her excellent policy and he is license for every state.Personally I'd buy a policy with one of the internet sites(and have done so) because it cuts out the expense of the agent fee that add to the monthly premium cost.