<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>technics256</author><text>At least in Europe, I have never seen anyone ask for pre existing medical conditions unless getting specialized private insurance. I have never heard of any residency permit being based on medical history in Europe. I would imagine it to be illegal?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m currently in Italy myself, and my father was visiting me and got a nasty case of pneumonia on the way over. Here in italy care is (mostly) free,as is his hospital stay here in genova. While it may be not to the full American standard, his care has been great, and the staff wonderful.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m glad to be in a system here where Healthcare is good, and affordable, and that with this episode my father is not bankrupted or in considerable debt because of it, especially as an elderly patient. La dolce vita.</text><parent_chain><item><author>patryn20</author><text>In my case hindsight is 20&amp;#x2F;20. If you don&amp;#x27;t mind me asking what country did you expatriate to? I&amp;#x27;ve found that several countries I would want to relocate to do not allow permanent residency for people with existing medical conditions in order to avoid undue strain on their subsidized medical systems.</text></item><item><author>geomark</author><text>I would expatriate to a country that has good healthcare at much lower prices so you can pay out of pocket without being ruined. I did precisely that - for other reasons, not for the healthcare advantages. But now this is one of the big reasons I would never go back to the U.S., because of how easily I could be ruined by an unfortunate health event.</text></item><item><author>patryn20</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve done my own thing since high school with the exception of two years in offices (one as W2 and one as part time 1099). I&amp;#x27;m now 35 and experiencing health issues and discovering that unless you earn &amp;quot;f$&amp;amp;! you money&amp;quot; group health insurance in the US is worth at least $75k a year in income. At least.&lt;p&gt;If you aren&amp;#x27;t in a country with proper healthcare and are not earning AT LEAST $300k USD a year (consistently), understand that all your years of work can be destroyed by one diagnosis. And plan accordingly.&lt;p&gt;I love my life. I&amp;#x27;ve had a charmed existence moving to wonderful locales and doing what I wanted when I wanted; but the genetic lottery cannot be outwitted. You can be healthy one day and in debt the next.&lt;p&gt;Plan accordingly. Don&amp;#x27;t let youth and good health lull you into complacency.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s completely possible and attainable for software developers to be independent anywhere on the globe, but understand the potential financial implications and limitations of the social safety nets of your country of citizenship&amp;#x2F;residence. Plan accordingly.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Your own company? You can do it (2011)</title><url>https://jacquesmattheij.com/your-own-company-you-can-do-it</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>geomark</author><text>Thailand. They don&amp;#x27;t give permanent residency here anyway. The laws on the books make it sound as if they do but in reality they don&amp;#x27;t. So you have to find another way to stay long term. For young people they make it difficult unless you can land a job (few jobs for foreigners here) or start a business (expensive and designed to fleece foreigners, beware). Other ways are retirement visa, spouse support visa, education visa, long stay medical care visa. Staying long term on a tourist visa and doing visa runs every month is dumb and doesn&amp;#x27;t work anymore anyway since they cracked down on it.&lt;p&gt;If you can manage the visa issue then you can get excellent care at a tiny fraction of what you pay in the US. Over the years I have had surgery, been hospitalized for an illness, had a fair amount of dental work, and had thorough medical exams annually. It&amp;#x27;s not just the low cost. The service and hospitality is unlike what I ever experienced in the US.</text><parent_chain><item><author>patryn20</author><text>In my case hindsight is 20&amp;#x2F;20. If you don&amp;#x27;t mind me asking what country did you expatriate to? I&amp;#x27;ve found that several countries I would want to relocate to do not allow permanent residency for people with existing medical conditions in order to avoid undue strain on their subsidized medical systems.</text></item><item><author>geomark</author><text>I would expatriate to a country that has good healthcare at much lower prices so you can pay out of pocket without being ruined. I did precisely that - for other reasons, not for the healthcare advantages. But now this is one of the big reasons I would never go back to the U.S., because of how easily I could be ruined by an unfortunate health event.</text></item><item><author>patryn20</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve done my own thing since high school with the exception of two years in offices (one as W2 and one as part time 1099). I&amp;#x27;m now 35 and experiencing health issues and discovering that unless you earn &amp;quot;f$&amp;amp;! you money&amp;quot; group health insurance in the US is worth at least $75k a year in income. At least.&lt;p&gt;If you aren&amp;#x27;t in a country with proper healthcare and are not earning AT LEAST $300k USD a year (consistently), understand that all your years of work can be destroyed by one diagnosis. And plan accordingly.&lt;p&gt;I love my life. I&amp;#x27;ve had a charmed existence moving to wonderful locales and doing what I wanted when I wanted; but the genetic lottery cannot be outwitted. You can be healthy one day and in debt the next.&lt;p&gt;Plan accordingly. Don&amp;#x27;t let youth and good health lull you into complacency.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s completely possible and attainable for software developers to be independent anywhere on the globe, but understand the potential financial implications and limitations of the social safety nets of your country of citizenship&amp;#x2F;residence. Plan accordingly.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Your own company? You can do it (2011)</title><url>https://jacquesmattheij.com/your-own-company-you-can-do-it</url></story>