BootsnAll Travel Community

Let´s say that you decide to quit your job, sell the house whatever and then spend your money traveling for ten years or more. What if by misfortune you were struck with cancer or other disease when traveling – if you returned to your own country (which hopefully, with the exception of the US, has free universal health care), would your government say “to hell with you, you haven´t been around here since… We´ll rather watch you die than care for you” or would they treat you despite that you haven’t stayed in your home country for a number of years? And then another thing comes to mind, how would they find out whether you have been in-country or not during the last few years?

I am interested to know what people on the forum, of different nationalities, think of this subject.

And then comes the question of whether one should pay for a private health insurance or not. And then comes the issue of cost – anyone have any idea of the different (good quality/good reputation) services available to long term travelers and their monthly/annual costs? How much would a normally “healthy” person with no MAJOR illness probably have to pay to be totally covered against all sorts of medical misfortune that could occur; from leukemia to having a cavity to getting HIV?
All replies welcome!