Many Americans have voiced complaints about how healthcare is regulated in the United States.
As a result, a number of those who have the geographical freedom of being a digital nomad are considering taking advantage of Europe’s. So are others not pleased with their own healthcare system as well as those who have become concerned by their country’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is according to an interview that David Nicol Williams, the CEO of NomadX, an organization that helps remote workers secure housing for time periods ranging from two weeks to a year, had with 150sec, a Europe-based company that reports on startup companies on that continent.
Williams said that the demand amongst digital nomads for European communities is going to increase because hospitals and health centers there are “generally much better than anywhere in the world.”
He added that healthcare offerings are going to become increasingly important as remote workers want to ensure that they will have access to quality medical facilities at reasonable prices should the need arise.
His viewpoint is shared by many others. For example, a U.S. News & World Report survey that was published in January 2020 found that of the top 10 countries that were deemed to have the best public health systems, seven were European: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.
European cities also rank high on more general lists of places where digital nomads prefer to spend their time. Big 7 Travel recently released one of the best places for remote working, and the top three cities on it are European: Tallinn, Estonia; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Belgrade, Serbia.
Regardless, Williams believes that Portugal, which is where NomadX was founded, will be the predominant “hotspot” for digital nomads who want a place to settle down for a few months at a time.
This country at the southwestern tip of Europe provides plenty of beach access, warmer winters than is found in much of the rest of Europe and arguably the lowest cost of living in Western Europe.
In fact, Europe’s first digital nomad village was founded in this country, on the island of Madeira, which is located 540 miles southwest of mainland Portugal.
This is a place that arguably offers more beauty than mainland Portugal and that unquestionably has even warmer winters than mainland Portugal.
Those interested in this live here from between one and six months although note that Americans can normally only stay visa-free in Portugal up to 90 days in any given 180-day period.
That is also true for the entire Schengen Area, which is comprised of 26 countries. However, Albania and Georgia allow Americans to stay there visa-free for 12 months at a time.