Retiring abroad where there is a great health service?

[BeachAndSea]

My husband and I want to retire to the sun abroad in the future. Has anyone here retired somewhere with an excellent and affordable health care system? We know we will be needing it. Thank you!

South korea.

failing that Spain, Portugal, Italy, France all rank above the U.K. have you got an EU passport?

Costa Rica may also be a possibility if you have enough savings for a visa.

Plenty of places do but most will require you to pay /have comprehensive insurance. Getting a visa isn’t always straight forward, comes down to assets and income in retirement.

Adding to all the things PP have already mentioned that you will need to consider, wherever you move to, you need to be able to speak the language well enough to be able to communicate what might be quite complex medical needs to health professionals who may (or may not) speak English. Here's some issues you would need to consider if you move to Spain (and which probably hold true for most of the countries you're thinking about).
https://ageinspain.org/moving-to-spain-guide-chapter-16-when-we-need-support/

With enough funds, you can get a retirement visa in the UAE. Health care is excellent but health insurance mandatory and very expensive for over 60s.

South Africa
Thailand
Indonesia
Tunisia

I would not go to the UAE for retirement with health care needs.

South Africa’s health ststem is on its knees (and I mean beyond what dramatists imagine when they say that about the NHS). My friend went in for an op and had to take all her own food and hide it in a locked box so it wasn’t stolen, the hospital had rolling blackouts and she was discharged with no follow up. She died shortly after. I do recommend Thailand, we live nearby. You do need good insurance though.

How much money will you have?

Interesting about SA (and TBH I assumed OP would be taking insurance wherever they go) as we've had the opposite experience with family, though with insurance. Seemingly that is wrong though.

OP I'd also add Vietnam, Oman, Turkey but again with insurance coverage.

I'm not sure that retiring abroad is the magic thing that some think it is. But if you have done your sums, checked out the visa situation (or have an EU passport) and are confident that you can support yourselves, go for it.

I could do it in the morning, but I chose not to. I spend time away in Winter instead.

Private healthcare in South Africa is outstanding.

My BIL and wife have excellent healthcare in Italy. They are retired but lived there for decades before.

Retiring to the sun? If you are currently UK based, where are you living that you aren’t getting all the sun you could want!

I’m contemplating retiring to the rain and cold 🥵

Alaska is pretty tempting right now.

I was thinking only today that due to global warming I might retire to Aberdeen! Saying that Cairngorms have had a big forest fire so nowhere is safe!

I don’t have an EU passport but qualify for one. I’m interested in Cyprus or Greece but would go anywhere that isn’t hard to communicate in English. I speak several languages but my husband doesn’t not.

I’m interested to hear from anyone retired and living abroad.

Don't forget that in some countries your state pension will be frozen at the amount it is when you move there.

If you have children don't do it, or at least have a plan to come back when you are ill or infirm.
As the adult child of people who did this, it is a nightmare to have to drop everything, job, small children etc because a now elderly parent has had a health crisis in rural Spain.
My dad died, mum came back to the UK.

Is your husband happy having to learn a new language? Will he be comfortable communicating with health care workers in broken Greek (or whatever) should you either be incapacitated or predecease him? I don't know about Greece or Cyprus, but Spain requires immigrants from the UK to take new driving tests in Spanish. While the health care in hospitals "may" be better than in the UK, what will you be doing in terms of social care as you grow older and more dependent on others for help?

India actually has excellent, cheap and English speaking private health care. Though not such a great place to retire otherwise.