Reader David a US citizen living in Europe writes ...

Hi Mish,

I am a native born US citizen who has worked mainly outside of the USA since 2003. In 2012 I liquidated everything in the USA and moved to Europe for the foreseeable future.

In Europe the rules are different for every nation depending on whether you are working for a company, self employed, or a "person of means". France and Luxembourg have single-payer universal coverage. In Hungary and Spain, you don't need health insurance if you can prove you can pay your medical expenses (person of means). Switzerland mandates that all people must have some form of health insurance (private). Ireland has a couple of levels:  public, private, etc. Germany allows you to take the state system or take a private system.