"You can just walk into any hospital and a doctor will have time to see you and prescribe a medication for you?"

yes.

"you can just walk into any pharmacy and get a medication without a prescription?"

depends on the medication.

but mostly, yes.

I can't think of a legitimate health scenario where the answer is no.

"Forgive me if I'm skeptical."

forgiven.

I've heard these questions a hundred times.

If you're haven't traveled, you equate everything to the US, although things like the healthcare system abroad are meant to serve people rather than corporations so they function a lot differently than you're used to.

"What country are you describing?"

most of Western Europe and most of Asia (I can only speak to the countries I've been to), and I know someone who lives exclusively in the Balkans who says all the countries there are the same as well.

"While this is generally true, it is not universally true for all medications."

it's universally true as far as I'm aware and have experienced.

you might not have the same brand, but it'll be the same medication except readily available and cheaper.

"a lay person won't know what those are and will require professional guidance"

yea, I assume it's the same in your country? where some medications should be prescribed or recommended by a doctor?

"finding a doctor and waiting for an appointment."

Google and maybe sitting down and playing on your phone for a half hour is a lot easier than you're making it out to be.

"During which time you may well run out of your medication."

how?

I can't imagine this scenario happening.

Unless you're talking about something you have to take hourly and you brought one pill with you so you'll be without medication for 30 minutes?

these are such unlikely possibilities.

I've known known an uncountable number of travelers for the past decade, many of whom take medication, zero of which have ever complained of not being able to find their particular medication.

not once.

I hear "geez did you know X is only like three bucks here? It's like $80 a bottle in the states!"

"This take suggests a lack of perspective on chronic/debilitating illnesses as well as poverty."

couldn't be less correct.

your doubt on what I'm saying simply demonstrates your ignorance.

I'm not using "ignorance" as a pejorative term, I mean that you literally don't know what you are talking about.

chronic debilitating illnesses and poverty are characterized by financial trouble.

traveling takes away financial stressors.

I have known many retirees and chronically ill people who have regaled me with tales of how easy it is to retire in Vietnam/Germany/Portugal/Laos and so on because they don't have to worry about the cost of medication.

financial anxiety isn't completely determining their life.

"it leaves little cognitive space for more abstract/complex concerns."

Yes, this was my original point.

If you don't have any savings, if you're a month away from living on the street, if you have healthcare needs, and these financial stressors are determining your life, traveling can fix that almost instantly.

then you can save up money, make a plan and go back to whatever you want to do.

but at the very least you'll have breathing room, and what's most likely is you'll discover that traveling is way better than struggling in the US and you'll keep traveling.

"....isn't exactly conducive to success in America's abusive work culture."

yep, America's work culture sucks.

most other countries have siestas and employee rights.

and are focused on draining you financially. every second you're awake

Plus, if you're outside of the US for more than 330 days out of the year, you fill out the FEIE, an IRS tax form, and you don't pay income tax up to $120,000 per year.

"I really can't fathom that it's as trivial as you imply for someone who requires medications or other ongoing treatment to simply arrive and get the care they need without potentially problematic delay."

That's because you haven't done it yet(and I never said it was trivial).

It's difficult to fathom something you've never experienced.

especially when you're living in the worst existing iteration of functional health care infrastructure.

you've grown up with excruciating waits and debilitating, financially disastrous healthcare your whole life, and you are surrounded by people who think the same thing and think it's normal, so thinking about health care at all puts you in the mindset of excruciating waits, debilitating, financially disastrous, healthcare.

That's mostly a US specialty.

ask anyone who has traveled for any length of time and they will tell you exactly what I'm telling you.

I'm very happy to answer these questions and will answer any other questions you have.