No, that got him citizenship in a country that happens to have a decent health care system. Mike B's advice was to Bob W. to find a nice Aussie to marry and Joanna asked, OK, so what do you do if you don't find one? My point was that we also have a system here that pushes marriage for health insurance. The pressure on women to marry is already enormous, health insurance simply adds to that suffocating weight.
>I have health insurance through my wife's employer as does my neighbor
>and a very close friend.
The gap is closing. With the decline of jobs in unionized and male-dominated sectors of the economy, men's full-time jobs have gotten almost as bad as women's full-time jobs in not providing health insurance. (This is similar to the decrease in the gender wage gap, due largely to the decline in men's wages.)
However, women have more part-time jobs and breaks due to childrearing, so many are still dependent on their husbands for health insurance in the US, not to mention income. Job-based benefits magnify job discrimination--why is health care based on being employed at all, never mind married?
I'm sure it seems odd to people living under universal health care systems that our access to health coverage in the US can be dependent on our marital status.
Jenny Brown
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