>>He is at higher risk of degenerative joint disease now. Surprised the US insurer didn't cheerfully hand that one back to you when you took out the policy. Had you made a claim, probably fine print would allow a decline if they could establish prior risk. Won't be able to under the ACA.
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>>It has never been disallowed as a pre-existing condition - ever -in over 10 years using private insurance.
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>>I work 80 hours a week so I must be twice as not-rich as you. ;-) Seriously, didn't you say that you don't have much debt? If any? Many here would be delighted to have a valuable property with no debt. The next generation may consider owning your own home and receiving free healthcare as a level of wealth that no longer can be achieved.
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>>It is true that we have no debt - that is because we never allowed ourselves to get into debt in the first place. Also neither one of us ever had children that we could not afford. So are you saying that because we have lived responsibly that we somehow owe what we have to someone else who has not lived as responsibly? Or are you saying that we have enough and anything more than that should be taken away and given to someone who doesn't have enough? Even though we are headed toward socialism, thank goodness we are not there yet.
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>With the word socialism thrown around so much these past few years, here is the actual dictionary definition from Merriam-Webster.
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>http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism

And even that definition comes too short. There's also the self-management socialism, where government owns even less than it owns in today's capitalism, and the rest is either personal property or society's property. In the latter case, there's no actual owner, but rather a stewardship (and reaping the benefits) by those who manage it, which are those who work it (and hopefully multiply it). We had that, and it failed, though nowadays I think it had a lot of help in that. Worked really nice for a while.