It depends what you mean by safety net. Certainly most folks on HN have the safety net of being able to return to work fairly easily whenever they might choose to, including finding remote work.

If you mean "individual healthcare in the US is expensive", I absolutely agree. Assuming you are otherwise healthy, catastrophic health insurance might be worth looking into (I have never tried it myself). Another option would be to travel internationally, because travel insurance (or even the cost of private care) in most other countries is going to be much cheaper than a domestic health plan.

On the other hand he can actually take off and go wherever he wants thanks to his American passport.

Ah yes the standard vacationed too long safety net.

There's unemployment and welfare for those who need it, not SWEs that don't want to work.

Don't work safety nets into your plans, they are for people in need, you are taking away finite resources from people who need them if you use social programs when you are able to work.