[seanmcdirmid]

Ya, I'm guessing you would actually get better care in a country like Thailand, the Phillippinnes, India, or China. It might make more sense to retire in a LCOL place with good affordable healthcare rather than rely on Medicare. Heck, just get a good policy with evac to the USA if anything major happens you can't handle out of pocket (and at that point, it is probably cancer or something anyways). As I get older, it becomes more appealing to consider.

I had private insurance in China and it was wonderful. I could get an appointment quickly for whatever, the waiting room was really plushy, the deductibles were like 100-400 kuai, mostly the former. The biggest problem is that private insurance in China has a payout limit (around $100k/year for the policy Microsoft gave me)...which...well...whatever.

[smallkitten]

Hospitals in Thailand are actually pretty awesome. I received surgery in Thailand and spent a week in the hospital recovering.

The hospital was amazing and like nothing I’ve seen in Western Europe. Granted it was a private hospital but the people there were almost uniformly Thai.

Thailand is surprisingly economically strong. I don’t think it’s a third world country.

[seanmcdirmid]

Thailand is upper middle income like Brazil, China, and Mexico. Thailand has see, to have fallen into the middle income trap with Brazil, however.