> This is not child healthcare. That is already free in every US state. This is free babysitting.

It's not quite free in every state, although it's closer to that than many people here probably realize.

At least until 2025 (unsure how the July budget cuts will affect this longer-term), Medicaid provides free or low-cost insurance to eligible children/families, which in theory should apply to everyone who isn't eligible for health insurance through other means. Emphasis on in theory, though - in practice, there are plenty of people who aren't covered.

It's probably more accurate to say that almost all children are eligible for healthcare coverage, and that coverage is free or low-cost for millions of people who meet various income thresholds. (People who are covered on private insurance almost always have copays or deductibles, so it's not truly free for them because there is some out-of-pocket cost).

In Berlin I enjoy exceedingly cheap daycare for my kids (80€ for 2 per month, would be lower if I didn't pay the optional extra costs), as well as generous parental leave in the year after a child is born, with salary subsidy from the state.

This is not an unusual policy situation at all in Europe, although indeed not universal.

Is it really "universal"? Bottom of the sea has subsidies for childcare for certain income threshold when both parents are working. It's pretty close to free childcare practically speaking.

> This is not child healthcare. That is already free in every US state.

Whaaat?

I have 2 kids and I can assure you healthcare is far from free unless you are low income; cutoff varies by state but it's not high -- around $80K/year household income[0], which is pretty middle-class. We're not at all wealthy, but a few years ago we started making more than threshold for our state's Medicaid/CHIP program, and we now spend >10K a year for our kids' healthcare (granted we have a child with a disability so he's the bulk of that).

[0] https://www.insurekidsnow.gov/coverage

> That is already free in every US state.

What?

read the article or even the title of the post. it's childcare.

> If you live in a European society where you don’t earn a lot of money but you have most essential things provided by the government, you typically have to live a specific kind of lifestyle. Moving out of that country becomes infeasible, you can’t take government services with you.

You don't have to live any specific kind of lifestyle, but it is true that a sizable portion of your income still goes to the public institutions. You can send your kids to private schools or (in some countries) homeschool them, but you're still paying for everyone else's public education.

Same with savings and pensions funds, a portion of your income goes to the state pension fund, no opting out of that, but you can also invest in private funds or whatever else.

Nobody's, for example, forcing you to work a 9-5 like everyone else, you're free to start a business, be unemployed, work and also run a business on the side etc.

As for moving countries, you can freely move around EU member states while keeping the benefits. You are also still entitled to the benefits of your country of origin even if you move across the globe as long as you keep your citizenship and tax residency there (which might be more impractical than just forgoing the benefits though).

> Your life will look very similar to people around you, everyone depends on the same government services and few have accumulated enough money to live an order of magnitude more comfortable than others. In a random sample of Americans, you will likely find a range of people from low-key millionaires to people up to their eyeballs in crushing debt.

The wealth inequality varies quite vastly depending on which European country you're looking at. Also note that European does not automatically imply them being an EU member state. Overly general statements like these are totally pointless.