http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6740179&sc=emaf
Thanks to alert reader BJA for bringing the story to our attention.
Some day when we have more time and patience, perhaps we will bring our faithful readers up to date on our latest battle with the Spanish bureaucracy, which involves the package our brother sent us from California, and how we have to pay 32 euros to Correos before they will give it to us. It's a tariff, apparently, but the irony is that the package contains a jacket that we bought for our brother in Madrid that was too small for him and that he wants us to exchange. So how can they put a tax on this gift as an import? Good question.
Well, Correos has the package and they won't budge until we pay up. They won't even let us have the papers that came attached to the package from Hacienda (Spain's beloved IRS equivalent) until we pay them. Nor will they make a photocopy of these documents in order to facilitate the second round of our battle with the bureaucracy. So if we want to complain to Hacienda we have to pay Correos first and then go to Hacienda and try to get our money back. But we don't want to do that because we know how hard it is to get money back from any government agency. Especially when they don't even respond to emails sent to their "customer service" section. When we asked the Correos drone (we are sure she is a very nice person when she's not working at Correos) why they couldn't just give us the package and let us sort it out directly with Hacienda, she said, "Because then we would have to pay Hacienda." "But Correos and Hacienda are both government organisms, so all the money is essentially coming from the same place," says we. But she just gives us a half-smile and takes our package back into the dark holding room where we have decided to let it stay. Let them send it back to our brother, says we.
Anyway, Jerome Socolovsky's account of his experience with the green forms, beige forms, and yellow forms was poignant in its immediacy and truth to life.
We should say, however, that we really love living in Madrid and that we recommend it highly to our readers for when they have their own sabbaticals. We particularly like having a cafe con leche and a chapatita de jamon after a frustrating afternoon battling the bureaucrat samurai on their own turf. Nothing makes you feel better than does the salty cured goodness of Iberian ham.
Speaking of positive things about life in Spain, we do think that the socialized Spanish health care system is top notch. Did you know that even if you pay for private health care (which is widely viewed as hugely inferior to the public system) you don't have to fork out co-payments? You just pay your monthly fee and every time you have to go to the doctor you just go to the doctor. Tests? Just go have your tests done and show your card at the door. Emergency room visit? Free. No insurance, you say? Free.
As a result of our experiences here so far, it is becoming more and more shocking to us just how bad American health care really is, even when you have access to what is normally regarded as "good health care," like the kind that comes with a "good job." Our employer in the US puts about $700 dollars a month into our health coverage, and we put in another $120 out of our paycheck. And since our US insurance does not work outside of the Midwest state in which we live, we had to get insurance here, too. Guess how much it costs. No, that's too high. No, still too high. Now you are getting warmer. That's right! 100 euros a month. That's it.
So now we look back on our last experience with American health care and it is looking pretty shabby. When S had a piece of metal stuck in his left eye last July, we had to pay $100 for our emergency room visit. Then we got co-paymented to death at all our subsequent visits to opthamologists and primary care physicians. And our American readers will no doubt be thinking, "But doctors charge the insurance companies huge amounts of money for the work they do on us!" Yes. Like $220 for a 15 minute check-up. (This is not a scientific study, these amounts are approximate, as is our understanding of the American health care system in general.) But caveats be damned! Basically, we and our employers pay tons of money to the insurance companies because they are being charged huge amounts by the doctors. And the doctors charge huge amounts because their insurers charge them so much money for liability. From our small but comfortable flat in central Madrid, we would like to take this opportunity to call our readers to action! Revolt! Demand universal health care for yourselves and for the poor people you don't even know! Why not? Most of us are already paying for it! Raise taxes and stop paying for insurance! Take it to the streets!
Okay, now let's get back back to that old metal-in-the-eye anecdote:
One visit to emergency room: $100 copay
One prescription for generic vicodin to ease pain in order to make it through one night with a metal shard in the eye: $30
One visit to opthamologist the next day to have tiny metal shard taken out of left eye with a needle: $30 copay
Follow up visit to opthamologist to have rusty ring remaining in eye from metal shard shaved off with an electric burr: $30 copay
Five minute follow up visit to opthamologist to have left eye examined for infection: $30 copay
Uncertainty about why we put up with such shabby health coverage in the A-number-one-world-power-States of America? Priceless.
3 comments:
Last we checked, Spain also has the highest life expectancy rate in Europe, which is significantly higher than in the U.S. So the trick is to move across the Atlantic once your health begins to falter.
And eat more pork.
Quejándose, quejándose, siempre quejándose. Lo mismo que pasó con lo de la paella esteponera, donde también he dejado un comentario.
Sois únicos, desde luego. No sé como os aguantó el Profesor Alex.
Dear Malagueno,
We appreciate your commentary, but must take issue with your impression of our blog. I am a native of Madrid and we decided to live here because we love Spain and our fellow Spaniards.
But you must know that living in a country gives you insights into the culture that would otherwise elude you. There are negative elements to all societies and bureaucracies. There are also a lot of really nice things about all cultures.
We suggest that you and our other readers read carefully our other posts in which we express the undying pleasure that we take in Spanish cuisine, culture and traditions.
As you can see from this particular post, we also view life in the United States with a critical eye, thanks largely to our contrasting experiences living in Spain. So unless you feel confident in your control of English, and until you have read our other posts, please refrain from leaving negative comments.
This blog is written for our friends and family. I'm sure you can understand that your criticisms are hurtful, particularly since they are false and you make them in anonymity.
Amagomundi
Post a Comment