Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, and one more thing. I always keep a blood glucose meter in my backpack. You know, that medieval-age stuff with the finger-pricker and test strips. (You can buy one for about €10 in pretty much any pharmacy in Europe, but it’s better to already have one with you.) And pen needles, too.
P.S. As a European, I genuinely struggle to understand how you cope with your healthcare situation. In France, in a small mountain village, I walked into a pharmacy and, through a combination of gestures and sketches, managed to buy a box of rapid-acting insulin at full price (around €30–40). The insulin was clearly available. The issue was purely bureaucratic — technically I needed a prescription from a French docto…
As an American, most Americans don't realize how bad it is because everything seems fine when you are insured and only need basic care. The huge problems aren't immediately apparent until you suddenly get diagnosed with something serious and become a cost center for your private insurer instead of pure profit for them. At that point they realize how fucked they are and how much the insurance company will fight tooth and nail to deny care.
Everyone else tries to ignore how fucked those people are out of superstitious belief that maybe they too will fall into the Unfortunate Situation group if they think about it too much.