A nice example of the kind of HN response comment that completely flies past being in any way useful, thoughtful or realistic.
As the other response here mentions, even if one has the financial means to just uproot and "move to another country with public healthcare", there's a whole bureaucracy around doing such a thing that makes it hard in the best of circumstances and absolutely grueling if you need medical support for anything resembling a serious and pressing problem.
Even if you're from a country with universal healthcare, but live overseas long enough to be a non-resident of your home country, going back can involve obligatory wait times for rejoining the system. In Canada, for example, i've known this wait time to be something like three months. Imagine managing that while sick and unable to pay for pricey medical assistance.
No. This was meant as a comment to mention that it does not need to be this way. Maybe voting can help.
Also, it's actual possibility. I have moved countries, and I'm not rich. If I had a serious condition I'd move off the USA in a minute. Either Europe or South America. There are no such wait times in some countries. The thing is "pricey" and "medical assistance" don't need to go together. US population thinks so, are used to it. It's crazy. The dollar amounts sent back and forth between insurance and providers are bonkers. Absolutely inflated. Same as medical career cost.
As the other response here mentions, even if one has the financial means to just uproot and "move to another country with public healthcare", there's a whole bureaucracy around doing such a thing that makes it hard in the best of circumstances and absolutely grueling if you need medical support for anything resembling a serious and pressing problem.
Even if you're from a country with universal healthcare, but live overseas long enough to be a non-resident of your home country, going back can involve obligatory wait times for rejoining the system. In Canada, for example, i've known this wait time to be something like three months. Imagine managing that while sick and unable to pay for pricey medical assistance.