Wednesday, June 12th, 2013

Went to bed at 10:45; maybe it was the rain that woke me up during the night (of course I took advantage of the opportunity to go to the bathroom); sounds from downstairs (radio, talking) woke me up again about 5:45; fell back asleep and got up close to 7am.

On my way to Exito I saw John William’s office was open so I stopped by to see how his trip to Bogota went.  He said it was mostly sunny there so it wasn’t as cold as it usually is.  He also has a girlfriend there that he stayed with.  The girlfriend also has a husband that’s open-minded and doesn’t mind her having boyfriends.  And she has another boyfriend.  What a country!

Last night I finished A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke on my Nook.  Next is Micro by Michael Crichton.

Reina showed up right on time at 10am.  She told me they had a handyman visiting them and Angel was barking at him and trying to bite his pants leg.  So I guess he’s discovered his bark and developed his protective instinct.  And in the house he only urinates and poops in the bathroom.  On the way to our taxi, John William was walking toward us from the corner snack shop so I took the opportunity to introduce them.  He said we should try EPS Sura near the Stadium so we took the taxi directly there.  Once we got there they told us we have to go to the office in San Diego (which is where Reina later told me she wanted to go to begin with).

I6 turned out to be a huge building near the San Diego C.C. and once we found the right area for retirees we got into a long Walt Disney-like line.  After about 20 minutes when we were close to the front we saw another much shorter line with a lot of older people, women with babies, the infirm, etc.  Maybe we could have used that one, I don’t know.  When we finally got to speak to someone the lady gave Reina a one page mimeographed page with a web site. 

A little after 11:30 we walked over to the San Diego C.C. and had lunch in their food court.  Reina chose the Baby Beef for 23,900 ($13.28), Ajiaco soup for 4,900 ($2.72), and a Peach Tea for 3,200 ($1.78).  I initially ordered the same thing but realized if I did I wouldn’t have enough money for taxi fare home so I ordered a hamburger for 13,900 ($7.72) and a Coke for 3,600 ($2).  It was obvious food was expensive there in San Diego or maybe it was just this restaurant.  I didn’t even think the food was that good.  I was wanting to try the Ajiaco soup as it is supposed to be like a national dish.  I tired Reina’s and I wasn’t impressed but Reina said it’s supposed to be hot which could make a difference.  But I had a piece of her steak and it was very good.  One problem with Reina is I don’t know if I could afford to feed her.  (All of a sudden everything I typed was in upper case.  I thought I might have to reboot as I couldn’t get it to change.  Finally I selected Format, Font, and saw that it was set to “All Caps” so I guess somehow I had pressed some combination of characters that set it that way.  I unchecked it and now I’m fine.)

When we got back to the apartment and I starting translating the instructions one thing it said is that the website is only available from 8am to noon and 2pm - 4pm Monday thru Friday.  What?  It’s a website – it should be available all the time. 

At 2pm we were able to access their site and then it was a problem figuring out the form – which is in Spanish, of course.  We kept getting errors on one of the two pages and having to start over.  The third time I finally translated the error message we were getting in the telephone number area (Reina’s) and when I removed the spaces it seemed to accept the entire application immediately – also strange.  She is supposed to get a call from them in 5 days.

Here are a number of comments I saved from various expats (this first one from Cali) regarding health insurance in Colombia: “there's good and bad in all of them.  My group, eps Sura, was recommended by doctors in Medellin but a whole lot of subscribers have a different view.  They've spent a lot on me, no questions asked, but the process is slow.  All in all I can't complain for full coverage insurance that costs me about $57.00 USD a month.”

“It's my understanding that no one can be denied insurance (although cost might deny) and once accepted, always accepted, as long as the monthly payments are made.”

“I am lead to understand that from the first day you present your application for a policy, and receive a receipt for the application, you will be covered for emergencies by the eps portion of the policy.  With sura it takes 8 days to become affiliated after which time there's full coverage except for pre-existing conditions.  At least sura … will send a doctor and/or ambulance to your home if you are unable to leave for treatment.”

“I'm led to believe that those of us 65 and older already get … preferential treatment”.

“I am now into the 5th week of affiliation with epsSura health insurance and so far I can't say enough good about them..  Their office here in Sabaneta is modern, very clean, filled with smiling faces of numerous doctors and other personnel.  It was the same at their central office in Medellin.   I still have trouble with my Spanish and everyone is very patient with me, giving me special treatment.  I haven't had to wait longer than 30 minutes to see a doctor.   A guard told me they have several expats but most are afraid to come because of lack of Spanish.  He was amazed that I came alone and immediately suggested exchange of language classes which I accept.  I know nothing about the many other insurance companies but, based on my experience so far, I can certainly recommend Sura which a couple hospital doctors told me is the best for the Medellin area; I don't know about other areas.  First one has to have a cedula, and then apply for insurance.”

I walked Reina down by the Hotel Golden Palermo so she could catch a bus to Angela’s house and gave her 20mil for taxi fare for later.  (I even recognized the name of the bus she said she needed to catch and I knew she needed to catch it there.)  Within less than 5 minutes she was on Santra Belen 315 bus.  I have to admit I missed her.  I walked across the street and picked up my laundry for 15mil ($8.33) which consisted of my towels and bedding.

About 6pm I headed out for dinner.  I saw John William still in his office so I invited him for a drink at the corner snack shop.  I bought us sodas for 2mil.  This time I had a strawberry Tutti Frutti; I didn’t know it came in different flavors.   Later I had another Tutti Frutti for myself 1mil but I don’t know for sure what flavor – it looked like coconut.  Kiddy corner across the street someone with a grill is cooking sausages.  Later I had a sausage with mini arepa for 2mil.  I learned more about life in Colombia and we shared a couple of jokes.
I left about 8:15 and at home I had a bowl of cereal with strawberries.  Now I’m watching the Stanley Cup championship between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins on NBC.