The only similar thing I know in the EU is needing medical care abroad, meaning out side the country you are living in (more accurate, the country you are insured in). Then it can be scetchy, especially if certain procedures are not accepted in your country. But even then you only pay the difference, you have in some cases, pay upfront before you get reimbursed by your insurance. These differences tend to be rather small. Again from a German perspective, supplemental insurance for travel (global, including repatriation flights if necessary, and even helicopter evac) is very affordable. E.g. through the ADAC, the German automobile club.

Ot is even possible for German citizens living abroad (I think outside the EU) to pay into a special insurance to maintain the German health insurance. Around 100 bucks or so, but I would have to read up on it again. Which is nice, e.g. because you travel full time or are an expat (the US comes to mind).

Edit: That's one provider, the 1 year plan is 35 Euro, ythe 5 year plan 59 per month.

https://www.hansemerkur.de/langfristige-auslandskrankenversi...

EDIT 2: Including the US and Canada prices increase by roughly 3 fold.