I need to investigate escaping this god-forsaken country again.
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Oh, but honey, until bojo fucks it all up, housing benefits got rolled into universal credit which is in addition to the other bit of benefits. Maybe @newboldone can explain uk benefits to americans?
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I mean, the tories fucked it up real hard with austerity welfare reform. It might actually be WORSE than the US administration of benefits here in America…okay probably not considering we haven’t figured out how to get everyone health care.
You can’t get housing benefits/universal credit unless you don’t have assets, though, right? But you can get stat pay for leave?
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Although come to think of it, the only form of cash* assistance we have now for new parents who weren’t working before in the US is TANF. The current maximum monthly benefit for a family of three is $506, which is less than stat pay in the UK.
*we have food (snap) and WIC (special baby/pregnant person/child food program) and if you’re extremely lucky housing vouchers
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I go between wanting to make it better and wanting to flee. I’m so scared around health care on a personal level.
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UGHGHGH.
My “do I want kids” thought process swings wildly between, you know, personal, intimate conversations with my partner about ethics and parenting philosophy and lifestyle, and, this, addressed to US culture at large:
EDIT: gif fail.
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Yeah. Greyman was asking what our FI healthcare plan is and it’s basically
- Rely on CO medicaid
- Not really be fully FI because one of us will have to work PT for benefits if the above goes tits-up
- Move to a sane country if those go tits-up
- Find the best option for moving to another country if we or our kids end up having a chronic expensive condition needing ongoing care.
Meanwhile our maternity leave plan (which we thought was going to be in May, and now is moved likely to mid-2022, sad trombone) is
- Take mat leave
- If I need more mat leave, tell work they can either give me more unpaid leave or I am quitting
- Find a new job if needed
But the option to do anything but “take what you’re given and then back work with ye” is incredibly privileged. Even with all insurances we pay for in the US, the best insurance is to both pay for insurance and to self-insure concurrently.
My only personal way I’ve tried to make it better is by voting and throwing money at it. I can’t vote if I live in another country but I can still throw money at it from another country. But will I?
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I’m sorry to report that if this is true, there are many countries that won’t let you emigrate 
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Yeah… Something to consider moving pre-emptively for.
Everything sucks! 
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Even countries more backward than the US allow expats to vote from overseas.
If you become a foreign national, you cannot donate money to US candidates. Well. Legally.
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Ahem on topic…I can’t fully decide if minimum mat/parental leave is good (encourage usage) or a form of benevolent sexism. A friend pointed out some years ago (info may be outdated) that women were banned from some jobs in Russia that are deemed dangerous or…physically strenuous, I guess. So I’m thinking mandatory leave is a bit like that. Like you can’t decide for yourself if your ready for work…
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Also, since we are on the subject, "California was the first state in the country to pass a paid family leave law. " It is funded through the short term disability system. It’s no Europe, but it’s progress!
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/california-paid-family-leave.html
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It’s unenforceable, I would assume. If a person is back on the job early of their own free will, who will report it? And who would you report that to? I used to have a job enforcing the labour code in my province, and certain sections were understood to have been written with good intentions but with no way to be enforced, or will to make them enforceable.
On the other hand, if an employer is threatening to fire someone for not being back on the job early… That I would have enforced. Hard. I have made employers cry.
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Can still donate to abortion funds and probably planned parenthood though?
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I think the prohibition is specifically on elections. Abortion funding and Planned Parenthood are humanitarian aid.
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You can donate from abroad regardless if you still hold your American passport, but if you give up your american passport and are a foreign national you can’t give to campaigns or PACs but 501c3/4s are fine.
If you don’t give up your american passport, you have to still pay income taxes and fill out a bunch of forms and pay a massive (30%) penalty if you hold >$10,000 USD in a foreign bank account… And if you give up your passport because of taxes, they also fine you a massive amount.
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The US is so dummbbb. It’s like internet companies. Wait, you’ll charge me to stay and you’ll charge me to leave???
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REALLY good video:
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I’ve never heard of a minimum time here. I get none, as I’m a student. Otherwise I’d get 18 week’s minimum wages paid by the government, plus whatever unpaid up to a year. Plus whatever extra my employer has as their employee benefits.
According to my scholarship I get 12 weeks paid, plus unpaid… And incidentally I’m paid ~ the minimum wage by my scholarship.
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Granted, it was not at all a normal birth (see journal for rather triggering details) but I delivered my first on a Thursday and was back at work on Monday.
And I was a gigantic mess.
I should indicate for those who don’t want to read the triggering journal entry, this was in NO WAY work’s fault, and my boss was amazing.
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