I'm Australian, age 29, in excellent health, and living in the US. I currently have quite good health insurance. However, if I found myself in a situation in th

I'm Australian, age 29, in excellent health, and living in the US. I currently have quite good health insurance. However, if I found myself in a situation in the US where I did not have health insurance, I would try to move back home as soon as I could. To me, it seems laughably risky that anyone would voluntarily not have health insurance. (I realize there are many reasons why people might involuntarily not have insurance.) Illness can happen at any time to otherwise healthy people with no warning, and if that happens you are royally screwed if you don't have insurance. Someone I know was diagnosed a month or so ago with stage 4 cancer. They had no symptoms, and it was only found by a diagnostic test administered by a cautious doctor. They now need hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of treatment, although fortunately they are insured. You simply have no way of knowing when your luck will turn.