The satirical Instagram page America Meets The Internet dissects American society through memes and screenshots of brutally on-point comments about the country’s current state. We’ve collected some of their funniest, most powerful, and most insightful posts to share with you. Scroll down, upvote the ‘American shenanigans and memes’ you agree with, and be sure to share your opinions in the comments, dear Pandas.
Which of these pictures do you think were spot-on? Were there any that could have used more nuance? Let us know.
The ‘America Meets The Internet’ page describes itself as dedicated to posting shenanigans and memes about the United States. The Instagram account is quite popular. At the time of writing, it had 377k followers.
A lot of followers enjoy the humor, weird memes, as well as the socio-political commentary interwoven into the pics. The page is a way to keep a finger on the pulse of America and some of the most important recent issues… at least in meme format.
There’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ country. Every nation is plagued by its own unique set of issues that make life harder than it should be for its citizens. And the US is no exception.
For example, one major problem that many Americans face is the exorbitant cost of healthcare. We’ve previously covered on Bored Panda how insurance companies are heavily involved in the provision of care for a patient. That means that they do whatever they can to avoid paying for healthcare.
“We are trained very early, almost like soldiers, to work hard and long hours, deal with extremely stressful conditions, and work through the emotional turmoil of death, debility, and the effect those things have on the patient and their families,” one doctor previously told Bored Panda about the type of stress that healthcare providers deal with in the US.
“I love what I do because I could not see myself doing anything else. I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was 5, since I myself had a major medical issue. I remember the care and compassion my doctors when I was that age showed me, and helped me get through my very tough time. I wanted to do that for others, and so far I think I have done so. Insurance companies make it difficult though, and nearly force cold, inhumane, and compassionless rules on patients when they are most vulnerable,” he explained.
American hospitals are highly consolidated, meaning there’s less competition. Around a quarter of the costs that Americans pay for healthcare are administrative. To put it bluntly, you pay more due to how inefficient the bureaucratic system is.
The sad reality is that the US doesn’t provide the same bang for your buck as other developed countries do when it comes to healthcare. Americans pay far more. But they get far less. This is a pity because the country is full of talented and hard-working professionals, and has access to good tech.
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation explains that healthcare costs in the US come to around 12.3k dollars per person. Compare that to the nearly 7.4k dollars in Germany and 7.2k dollars in Switzerland. The average per capita healthcare spending in wealthy countries is just slightly over 5.8k dollars.
In short, this means that the spending in the US is more than twice the average of other developed nations.
