I Just Realised Something

@HennyPenny It's ... scary. We've been living in various southern cities, which are pretty racist, but as old white man that doesn't really affect me at other than a visceral level. But the whole medical/insurance system is damn scary. Before we moved from the UK, I looked at relative tax rates & figured I'd be better off financially, but I hadn't allowed for about 15% of my net income being eaten up by "additional" medical charges on top of the cost of insurance. Basically if either of us has a major medical issue, it will probably bankrupt us (well, actually, we'll bugger off back to NZ to get it dealt with, rather than going bankrupt then getting denied medical treatment - and feel lucky to have the option).

The other thing I'd say is, it's a pretty mean (unkind) society, people don't generally treat eachother well or gently. I found London pretty abrasive at some levels, but it's worse here (and worse than that again, if you venture outside the major cities, smalltown america is pretty horrid if you aren't a local, from our experience).

Whats it like for a Kiwi living in American? I'm an aussie living in London and really like the UK.