<story><title>Tripolar Nature of Software Engineering Salaries in the Netherlands and Europe</title><url>https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/software-engineering-salaries-in-the-netherlands-and-europe/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>returningfory2</author><text>&amp;gt; Yes, healthcare and the cost of living are more expensive in the US&lt;p&gt;I feel Europeans looking in on the US from the outside consistently have a misleading view on healthcare. I&amp;#x27;m saying this as a European in the US working in big tech.&lt;p&gt;My plan&amp;#x27;s maximum out-of-pocket in a year is ~$3k, which I can pay pre-tax thanks to an HSA. It is less than 2% of my total comp in the worst case (in 2020 I spent less than $300 on healthcare). In return I get coverage that is generally better than the free public healthcare back in Europe.&lt;p&gt;I think CoL is similar, but not as clear cut. One thing CoL discussions often miss is that many expenses are independent of the local CoL; for example, a Macbook Pro costs the same in every US city. If your salary adjusts exactly for CoL, you&amp;#x27;re actually doing better because of this.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dukeyukey</author><text>My worries about US healthcare don&amp;#x27;t revolve around the cost or the quality, but more about the instability. If I know roughly how much I&amp;#x27;ll need to pay I can plan for it, even if it&amp;#x27;s quite a bit. But if I get into a crash in another state and taken to an out-of-network hospital without even being conscious, that can fuck up your finances straight away.&lt;p&gt;What I&amp;#x27;d like to know is how much NHS-level healthcare would cost me in the US. Given a monthly payment, I want 100% of everything covered all the time. No out-of-pocket, no out-of-network, everything with no exceptions. I&amp;#x27;m happy with generics, a bit of a wait and a non-private room, but I want 0 unexpected bills.&lt;p&gt;Maybe companies like Kaiser do things like that?</text></comment>
<story><title>Tripolar Nature of Software Engineering Salaries in the Netherlands and Europe</title><url>https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/software-engineering-salaries-in-the-netherlands-and-europe/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>returningfory2</author><text>&amp;gt; Yes, healthcare and the cost of living are more expensive in the US&lt;p&gt;I feel Europeans looking in on the US from the outside consistently have a misleading view on healthcare. I&amp;#x27;m saying this as a European in the US working in big tech.&lt;p&gt;My plan&amp;#x27;s maximum out-of-pocket in a year is ~$3k, which I can pay pre-tax thanks to an HSA. It is less than 2% of my total comp in the worst case (in 2020 I spent less than $300 on healthcare). In return I get coverage that is generally better than the free public healthcare back in Europe.&lt;p&gt;I think CoL is similar, but not as clear cut. One thing CoL discussions often miss is that many expenses are independent of the local CoL; for example, a Macbook Pro costs the same in every US city. If your salary adjusts exactly for CoL, you&amp;#x27;re actually doing better because of this.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>capableweb</author><text>&amp;gt; I feel Europeans looking in on the US from the outside consistently have a misleading view on healthcare&lt;p&gt;Maybe. All I know is that if I get sick or any other health emergency, I go to the hospital, they patch me up and I go home or stay there until I&amp;#x27;m better. I literally have to do nothing else.&lt;p&gt;Even knowing what HSA or anything else is, is too much for 90% of the people, including me. Some of us view healthcare as something that should be there for everyone and with as little complications as possible, even if it is more expensive overall. When you&amp;#x27;re dealing with healthcare, you&amp;#x27;re most likely in a situation where you want to deal with as little as possible, so free public healthcare really help then.</text></comment>