Don't get me wrong, healthcare reform definitely needs to happen here in the U.S., and the bills can add up quickly. BUT there are usually programs that can help. For those in the poverty limits, most states have government insurance called medicaid. For those in the gap of not qualifying for medicaid but not being able to afford health insurance, often hospitals have financial aid programs that can help. DH had surgery on his back and we only paid $20. I've had blood work done in hospital labs and at the time qualified for their financial aid and it got covered completely.
Also with maternity leave, I do agree that U.S. policies could be better, but... maybe it's the business/math part of me... I can see why employers wouldn't want to be required to give you paid leave for that. The fact is, having a baby is a choice in the US (yes, I know that a lot of pregnancies are unplanned but [unfortunately] it's legal to choose whether or not to continue with that pregnancy). I've a friend who's self-employed in Italy as an English teacher, and she's now coming up on her maternity leave but she and her husband are finding out just how hard it is to juggle keeping the business going by hiring someone else to cover her, but also working it out so they aren't losing half of their income. It's not easy.
I know for larger companies the burden isn't as large, but like I can, I can see from a business perspective why it's not desirable to have those kinds of requirements and laws, when by law they cannot discriminate based on gender. While there should be laws that protect the woman's job for a certain period of time after the birth (and in the U.S. that should be longer) I can't imagine any employer wouldn't PREFER to hire a man over woman of childbearing age, who may get pregnant, then the employer has to pay mat. pay (which includes payroll taxes to the government for all of those wages), PLUS paying for a replacement, getting comfortable with that replacement, then everything switching up again when the woman is ready to come back.
I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't think it's my employer's responsibility, or the government's responsibility, to provide for my child. DH and I are young and have so far lived pretty much around the poverty line as far as income goes, and we have always had plenty of money to do things we need to do, and usually even the things we want to do. We have savings built up for emergencies, etc. I actually lost my job when I was 10 weeks pregnant (not because I was pregnant, my employer didn't know before giving me my 2 weeks notice). We plan on me being a SAHM so I've not pursued any other jobs very much, but even if I had worked the whole time, and planned to go back to work after the baby was born, we would've had more than enough to cover my maternity leave financially. We probably could've afforded DH to take off the whole 6-8 weeks with me too. It's not always easy, but it's doable.
