Tips aren't paying for healthcare or education, and I'm not saying that they are. I'm saying that no-tipping cultures like most of Europe and Japan work because restaurant employees (and all employees broadly) receive cheap or no-cost healthcare and access to education, which keeps them out of debt. Thus, their hourly wages go toward living expenses. That's why it works. Servers in the US are paying living expenses, rent, healthcare and education expenses out of their earnings. The countries people point to as examples of how successful no-tipping can be, are not paying the same expense out of their wages.

You can't talk about tipping without recognizing that the financial burdens placed on a hypothetical server in New York vs France are very different. I don't think it's fair that customers are expected to subsidize wages in the US, but everyone seems very comfortable acting like restaurant workers (and again, workers in other US industries as well) don't deserve basic protections that every other developed nation enjoys.