I can't speak for every country but in most of Europe the opposite is the case. You'll be asked for preexisting conditions - but only once you register for medical care, and only to ensure good information and proper care. For immigration the main concern will be whether you have the means to support yourself (i.e. a job in the country or independent wealth) and whether you are assimilated (language, culture) before you get permanent residency or nationality.

In most EU countries even tourists can receive free/cheap care at public hospitals - but check for the specific country before you travel.

The UK charges £400 per year per person when applying for an immigrant visa. Gives you access to the NHS, for what it’s worth.

Personally given a choice I would rather not have paid that because the NHS hasn’t been very helpful to me.

The point of socialized healthcare is that you pay even if you don't need it, so that other people can use it.

This, and say one day you need some serious surgery that costs 3 times what you paid in taxes. Socialized healthcare could cover this up to a certain point and nobody would come to you with a bill afterwards. To me it's the best approximation of "sharing health" a civilized country could come with, though some degree of empathy is required to fully understand its value.

Yes. However, only immigrants have to pay the £400 "NHS surcharge"; they are also paying for it through tax and national insurance. The government figured out that it could impose all manner of arbitrary charges on immigrants because they can't vote.

To be fair no one asked them to go to the UK. I can't vote in the country I live in because i am a foreigner, but it is my choice to be there, and I prefer it to my home country.

It's quite possible, even likely in fact, that someone asked them to go to the UK.

If you are talking about skilled individuals, then they probably are in decent paid jobs so £400 isn't a great deal to them.

Usually once residency is granted in a place that has socialized medicine, there's a waiting period during which you're responsible for your own care.

No guarantees, but in Germany as long as you are registered (resident from an other EU country, refugee, asylum seeker) as opposed to a tourist you are covered. Access to health care is, unfortunately, a different story for people in refugee centers. But you are covered. No strings attached.

There is no way to be a legal resident without public heath insurance here. Which route you choose, public insurance, public as part of your spouse, private is up to you. If you cannot afford it because you are, say, unemployed the state covers the costs for the public model.

Also worth noting, the public model doesn't exclude pre-existing conditions which can make private solutions prohibitively expensive.

Actually, you can become uninsured quite easily. Switch to private insurance, and then lose the means to pay for it. The private insurance has no obligation towards you, and the public insurance companies don't have to take you back, so at this point you're well and truly fucked.

Well, I kind of tried. All you have to do is one of the following:

- drop under the minimum wage required for private insurance and the public has to take you back

- become unemployed and the state covers as mentioned above

Exceptions I know so far: Freelancers, mainly their problem is social security and retirement so. But yes, it can be tricky to return from private to public insurance. But as my insurance company stated, "there is an obligation to be insured, let's talk about your options". One very notable exception applies to people living permanently outside the EU. There it really gets difficult, and you might even loose coverage for conditions you didn't have before left the EU. But don't ask for details here, all I know about that is third hand knowledge.

Canada and New Zealand have entry visa requirements that there not be an undue burden on the health care system, with cost thresholds around $20,000 CAD and $41,000 NZD.

IIRC, for Canada, it depends on why you are there. There are exceptions for spouses, for example. It seems a lot of countries view family immigration a bit differently.