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Comment by neilv | Hacker News Reader

> and saved me close to $2k over the 4.5 months.

The author wisely talks about safety considerations, but there's an it's-expensive-to-be-poor risk I'd like to emphasize:

One injury or illness caused by the frugality could wipe out that $2K savings, many times over, in immediate costs, and might never fully heal.

I think back to all the penny-pinching I did (less impressive than the author's), and much of it was necessary under the circumstances, but a very poor value tradeoff otherwise.

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Cripplingly Expensive healthcare is only an issue in one country in the world.

I’ve been to the ER in Ecuador, Mali, Angola, Australia, Canada. Even as a tourist it was so cheap I didn’t bother using any travel insurance ( less than $50, including prescriptions)

I went to the ER in Canada (BC) a couple years ago, and they charged $950 to my credit card just to walk in the door. Everything else was extra, and charged at rates not wildly different from what I’ve seen in the US. And I’m a Canadian citizen! (I had temporarily lost my free healthcare eligibility because I lived outside the country for a few years.)

Can’t comment on all the other countries you listed, although I can add that urgent care in Germany was pretty reasonably priced.

It seems unlikely that there is not a single other country with “cripplingly expensive healthcare” besides the USA. I’m also of the opinion that there are more than 6 countries total.

Please name one with cripplingly expensive healthcare.

India

An "ER visit" can be a completely benign and simple thing that happens after-hours but really you just needed a nurse/doct, OR it could be a life-changing set of multiple surgeries and tests and treatments and and and. Let's not dismiss how very-real emergency costs can be, just because we don't like the messed-up american healthcare billing mess. I've been to an emergency room in South Africa, as an example, and off the bat it cost about $100. That's almost monthly average salary of a huge portion of the population here!

Lucky that you happened to be in need in countries with a low cost of living. I needed an ambulance, stitches, and an MRI in Germany and it cost me $2000 USD. I wish I had travel insurance then.

Agree. I tried to describe the step by step approach to show how you can try this gradually and mitigate the risks, but if you don't have access to a community and cheap student healthcare it's definitely quite dangerous. I'll add word about this at the bottom.

Edit: added! thanks for the feedback again

If he was on a student visa in Hong Kong he was able to access public health care for close to free.

All Hong Kong residents are eligible (anyone with an HKID and permission to remain >= 180 days).

I would say it's not about the cost, but possible permanent injuries

Then again having an extra $2k in the bank might prove beneficial - perhaps preventing a personal catastrophe in a the near future. Or open doors that might make a significant difference down the road.

Risk is complicated, anything could happen. Not just doom and gloom. Individuals circumstances and appetite for risk versus reward varies.

Agreed, but, say, a 20yo who's never had anything go significantly wrong for them, might not even consider that something bad could happen.

In that case, the appetite for risk versus reward is only appetite for reward.

If risks pointed out, at least that's closer to an informed choice they're making, and maybe they'll do the same risky thing but now be more careful about mitigating risk as they do.

(Source: Person who's bet it all at least a few times, and about to do so again, but finding ways to avoid stupid decisions and mitigate risks along the way.)

True in many places, but in Hong Kong, the cost of an A&E visit or hospital admission for the author (presumably on a student visa) at that time was about USD15/day.

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