Hundreds of thousands of southern Italians made their way to the United States before World War I. But following that war, the Immigration Act of 1924 discriminately restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. My parental grandparents arrived to the U.S. prior to WWI — afterwards, many of their close relatives immigrated to Australia and Canada.

I correspond with many relatives in Australia. They never let me forget that the U.S. is consistently ranked low with regard to healthcare compared to Australia.

Australia and the U.S. have vastly different healthcare systems. Australia operates on a universal healthcare model funded by taxes, ensuring most citizens receive free or heavily subsidized care in public hospitals. The U.S. has a hybrid system with a mix of private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, but a significant portion of the population remains uninsured. This leads to higher costs and poorer outcomes in the U.S. compared to Australia, despite the U.S. spending a much larger percentage of its GDP on healthcare.

And it will get significantly worse in the U.S. in two years as the Medicaid cuts kick in. A recent article in the Erie Times-News examined the possible closure of five UPMC branches — one of those being Kane Community Hospital.

Australians do face challenges in their system. Australia has a “triage” system and patients can wait for months if treatment is not deemed urgent. But, just like Medicare in the U.S.,  patients can buy private supplemental insurance. However, the costs of that insurance prohibits many from purchasing those policies. So those without private supplemental insurance are relegated to playing a waiting game.

While the U.S. deepened the rift with the “Big Bill” at the beginning of July, Australia helped level the playing field even more for their less well off citizens. They raised the minimum wage, increased retirement benefits, improved their national disability system, reduced student loan debt and improved their parental leave program.

Pete Palumbo, Bradford