#995 – The Expat Files: Health, Insurance, and Living in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now that I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started All right before we get into a little bit more of that solar stuff. Everybody's been asking for here is a little boots on the ground Story, I think you'll enjoy it happened to me just this last week turns out You see my mother who's 90 years old has had a few pre-cancerous skin lesions removed from her arms and her face

[00:49] You know, she grew up in a pure German farm family So they're out in the Sun a hell of a lot So as it turns out not only her but about a half dozen of her brothers and sisters have had the same thing And you know, if you catch it early, you just go into the dermatologist They use some liquid nitrogen and kind of douse those spots They scab over and in a week or so fall off and you're as good as new Some of you might have had to procedure yourself Anyway, it's pretty safe and easy and only stings a little bit in the first couple of minutes So anyway being in Latin America more than 30 years now myself Most of that in the Alti Plano where the Sun is really intense though You hardly feel it because you're up something like five or six thousand feet Anyway, I've always been one to stay out of the Sun because my skin is pretty light and I burn easily

[01:37] Even so in the last couple of years I noticed a couple of kind of questionable spots on my own skin some dark brown spots the size of appear smaller kind of like my ma had so I went to the dermatologist the other day of course here in Latin America and As you longtime listeners now, I always have health insurance because it's so damn cheap down here Why not? Anyway with my health insurance plan I pay about 800 bucks a year about 70 bucks a month though I pay the premium annually that way I get a 10% discount. Why not? It works out to a free month, right? Now with my particular insurance company I could select from five different plans from the cheap basic one That's around 40 bucks a month to the absolutely deluxe platinum plan Which is around a hundred twenty bucks a month and covers your worldwide and there's some other perks too, you know

[02:27] I'm not interested in worldwide coverage. I'm interested in just Latin American coverage So I elected the second best plan which basically covers 80% of any hospital costs so you've got a 20% co-payment and get this a Two hundred and fifty dollar a year deductible not 2,500 250 and that only applies if you actually are admitted to a hospital and it covers 80% of all prescriptions So I have a 20% co-payment at the pharmacy By the way, if I would have bought the absolutely deluxe platinum plan for 120 bucks a month I would have gotten worldwide coverage 90% pharmacy and medical coverage. In other words a 10% co-payment and Zero deductible, but there's another big difference if I elect to go to see a specialist for any reason

[03:16] I have a co-payment of 25 bucks a visit and if I went to a non-specialist to GP I'd pay around 12 bucks for a visit. That's with my plan the second best plan Now if I would have taken the hundred twenty dollar a month platinum plan, there'd have been no co-payment at all All doctors visits absolutely covered hundred percent. So those are the main differences Anyway, I made an appointment to see a dermatologist. I was able to get in in two days cost me 25 bucks She checked me out wrote up a pre-authorization To eliminate six spots that I had in my skin that were pre-cancerous in this case She'd be using liquid nitrogen the hassle was to get the insurance to pay for this I had to go to one of the many insurance satellite offices with the paperwork

[04:01] Not all of which are open now with this cold video crap So I went to one of them took a number waited around for an hour all masked up with my thumb up my butt After all, it is a medical insurance company So they're not gonna let you walk in there without a mask on at least that's what the sweaty obese Rennick cop at the door announced to everyone who walked in. Yep. I'm sure that mask will add years to his life Oh, and when he offered me a dollop of that's not like hand goop. I said no. Thanks. It's snot my style Of course, I said that for my own amusement because he spoke no English naturally So anyway, I did the usual manana time our weight handed in the forms and they were approved then I headed back to the dermatologist's office to get an appointment and Miracle of miracles the receptionist said would you like to have that procedure done right now? And I said, yeah, let's do it

[04:52] Here I was thinking I'd have to wait a couple of weeks for an appointment. Nope. They had an opening now This doctor's office is first world all the way and she speaks English very well So naturally being way off the gringo tourist trail with no one to practice her English on she instantly became Extremely talkative turns out she's around 35 Child of the Latin rich who's been back and forth to the states and shops in my jammy and all that so I had to Hear that story You always do when you're off the tourist trail and you run into a Latino or Latina that speaks pretty good English They always seem to want to impress on you that they're a cut above. They're almost a gringo Now I'm sure that act impresses the local Latinos who haven't been anywhere, but for a real gringo, it's a pretty shallow play

[05:40] Man, I can't tell you how many times I've heard about those trips to Nueva York and the Magic Kingdom Photo ops of Mickey and always a few shots of standing in the snow. So what do I do? Well, I force a half smile, but I really want to puke But I can't especially in this case since she'll be taking the knife to me in a few minutes So to speak and you don't want to piss someone like that off maybe later, but never before the procedure Anyway, she did the deed and it was less painful than I thought I went up to the receptionist She figured the numbers and gave me my portion of the bill my 20% which turned out to be $15 in the local funny money, of course That means the whole procedure at a specialist's office if I hadn't had insurance and had to pay for it myself was an astounding 75 bucks and that my friends is one of the reasons so many gringos and expats don't get insurance at all

[06:31] They go raw because if they pay out of pocket, it's so damn cheap For example, I just looked up the cost in the US of what's called cryo surgery for skin lesions and in the states It's over 200 bucks for one small lesion and they charge per lesion And I had six of them and the cost 75 bucks that beat without insurance So again, that's further proof of what I've been saying all along down here in Latin America Hospital clinic and medical doctors prices are around a tenth to a quarter of what you'd pay up in the states So how about it when you get in the hell out of Dodge? How's that plan be a yours coming speaking of getting on the fast track to a plan B You can do no better than to come down to my January 2021 expat insider seminar for all the info details

[07:18] Just go to expat plan B comm By the way, my private medical plan is one of those where there's an age limit to enroll the last year of eligibility is 64 years old. So if you're 64 and under you can get on that plan Otherwise you're so well now some plans have a 59 year old age limit However, the good news is you can still find a plan even if you're in your 60s and 70s It's just that your options are very limited. For example, I mentioned the bank Industrial plan that's so good in Guatemala though You have to be a permanent resident or have your permanent residency being processed to be able to get a bank account there And once you're in they offer a number of very good health insurance plans and one specifically for seniors over 65

[08:06] And that's a relatively new plan that wasn't around just a couple years ago We can expect more and more Latin insurance companies to offer plans for older folks and senior citizens since there are so many Babyboomers working on their plan B's and getting the hell out of touch now baby boomers Of course were kids boy right after World War two up to year 1964 So right now baby boomers are in the age range of around 55 to 75 Oh, and here's a little news on the cold video front I don't know if you caught this in the news or not coming out of Germany at the Max Planck Institute for evolutionary anthropology Turns out researchers there have found that a certain chromosome number three Inherited from people who test positive for neanderthal chromosomes, you know, not so long ago is determined that Cro-Magnon man modern man

[08:57] That's what we are though. Sometimes I'm not so sure Anyway, it's been determined. Some of us have a sprinkling of neanderthal genes meaning well modern man Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals got it on and I'm thinking it was the neanderthal guys that raped the Cro-Magnon women I mean look could it be any other way neanderthals are so stone cold ugly It just couldn't be the other way around Oh and let's not count out the fact that I'm sure a lot of neanderthal women had Enforceable sex with Cro-Magnon modern man. After all back then more than 40,000 years ago There were no guns to defend yourself You know when Samuel Colt invented the first practical revolver in the 1840s It was actually marketed as the great equalizer and it was they also called it the peacemaker

[09:46] I guess you could say it scared most people into keeping the peace The point is anthropologists have said that neanderthal man was up to three times stronger than your average Cro-Magnon not to mention Hillary ugly. So any mixture of genes even Anthropologists say had to be most likely by force. So what's this got to do with anything? Well, according to that study at a Max Planck Institute of anthropology They're saying if you have any remnants of neanderthal genes You have a 60% greater chance of needing hospitalization if you get COVID-19 and it says one in six people of European extraction have a touch of neanderthal blood and 30% of Western Asians have a smidgen of those genes, too

[10:32] I lean up it says neanderthal genes are almost non-existent in people of African and East Asian Extraction. So all you guys and gals out there who've been speculating you were wrong about the rock and Mike Tyson All right. I know what you're thinking Johnny. What the hell's that got to do with anything? Well just a year or so ago one of my brothers decided to send off his blood to a DNA sampling outfit and for 200 bucks He found out that yes, my family has neanderthal blood. I think he said it was something like 1.3% so I guess you could say I belong to the me to ancestor gang meaning way back when some neanderthal or neanderthals took carnal advantage of one or more Of micro magnet ancestors the poor dopes. What I want to know is where is my support group?

[11:22] What shysters 800 number do I have to call to get on the list for reparations? I want my 40 mules in an acre. Wait a minute. How do you get 40 mules on an acre? I suppose with great difficulty So are you gonna mock me diss me behind my back racially profile me for that neanderthal connection? That's no fault of my own. All I can say is look a booger Then it says while the study can't explain why these particular Neanderthal genes confer a higher risk of COVID-19 After-effects the authors conclude with respect to the current pandemic. It's clear the gene flow from neanderthals to present-day man can have tragic Consequences and to think I've got that bloodline. All I can say is

[12:08] Double ugga booger. Oh and one of the things they definitely know about neanderthals is that they could not speak They could grunt but couldn't speak or have a language something about the incomplete formation of the larynx Obviously for me that particular trait skipped a generation or two or ten or ten thousand But you knew that already right now speaking of the age of COVID Ian You've heard me say that countries are loosening up little by little and of course everyone that signed up to come down to my January 2021 expat insider seminar wants to know what the situation will be when they land at the airport Well, here's the dope on that as of today, October 2nd 2020 There will no longer be a curfew of any kind in Guatemala used to be till now There was a nationwide curfew from 9 p.m. To 4 a.m

[12:56] They'd find you if they caught you out during those hours, but that's been dropped and since this is Latin America They've got some completely pointless and stupid unrelated regs, too Like for example, you can't buy alcohol between 9 p.m. And 6 a.m What that's got to do with COVID. Nobody knows but then again, we're talking about government, right? Government, you know is a career path destination for the lowest common denominator Then again, you know what they call a person who graduates at the very bottom of his medical school class They call him doctor then again Maybe it's a good thing that government service attracts people from the bottom of the class and the bottom of the barrel Let's face it You wouldn't want a doctor who graduated at the bottom of his class to do brain surgery on you Would you or a bunch of engineers who graduated at the very bottom of their class to be designing the next Boeing jet?

[13:46] Luckily the private sector attracts the best talent because they pay the most amongst other things. That's one of the benefits of capitalism You know, I'm talking about real capitalism We haven't had that since before the First World War. We've got the worst kind of crony capitalism now But you knew that already, right? Unfortunately government attracts the sociopaths and the sludge of society and the biggest chunks like in a toilet float to the top But you knew that already too, didn't you but back to the airport Guatemala says now when you arrive you have to present a negative COVID-19 PCR Antigen test result even though most of those are worthless and you knew that already too Anyway, as in most countries you need that test however I've been told that all Latin countries will be loosening up on that in the next couple of weeks as they happen to Mexico

[14:34] Costa Rica and Dominican Republic will keep you posted and also there's a health form that's available online in both English and Spanish at SRE dot GT and that like your boarding pass you'll have to fill out upon arrival But again, the latest word is that in a couple of weeks? The rules are supposed to be relaxed even more by the way in another Covid it move it says in this latest document I'm reading children under 10 arriving at airports and going through borders will not need a negative Covid PCR antigen test result It shows you what a bunch of morons and idiots the people in government making these rules are huh to prove it once again I was at a restaurant the other day and There was a bunch of kids running around with no mask

[15:19] You know how kids sometimes just motor through restaurants with their arms out like their airplanes running around and screaming Yeah, right that makes for a good restaurant experience, huh? You don't feel like slapping them you feel like slapping their parents Anyway, I noticed the lady at the reservation desks when you first walk in Said to a couple that just arrived you need to wear your masks or you can't come in and later on when I walked out I said to the lady I don't get it the adults have to wear masks, but the kids don't she said that's right And I said oh I forgot we're dealing with a genius virus It can tell kids from adults with the cut off exactly at 10 years of age. How stupid of me Sorry, I asked all right enough said about that Let's take the rest of our time to talk about some unanswered solar power getting off the grid questions that have been piling in

[16:10] Like this one where our emailer has a statement and he asks a question He says Johnny the amount of solar energy your panels receive depend on where you're located in the world different Geographical areas receive a different amount of solar radiation So in some places there's more sunlight than in others and in other places It's more intense and lasts for a longer or shorter period during the day Problem is Johnny. I found certain solar calculators on the internet, but they're always specifically dialed in to the US geographic area Nowhere, can I find that kind of data for Latin America and the Caribbean? Alright, we'll touch on that But first I have to say there's sort of a general rule for Central America the Caribbean and most of South America

[16:58] From Colombia in the north southward to approximately the middle of Argentina for example I'm looking at one of those solar irradiance Calculator maps right now. It's called the global solar Atlas irradiation chart. And what we're talking about here is solar Irradiation not solar radiation, but solar irradiation I know you might be thinking there's no such word because there's really no such word as irregardless either but there is such a word as Irradiation and those irradiance numbers work like this for any given month of the year There's an average irradiance number It's a measure of the amount of total Sun a given place gets in one day per square meter That number is generally between four and seven

[17:44] The nice thing about this is that some scientists and number crunchers have averaged the Sun's output per square meter For every month of the year depending where you live in the world So the higher that number like I said, it averages between four and seven the more time each day Your solar panels will be receiving maximum Sun that number turns out to be an average of any given day So for example, if you've got solar panels that are putting out 5,000 watts in full sunlight Remember I said in the past shows you want to have a 5,000 watt array of solar panels five kilowatts That's 12 modern solar panels that and a power wall of around 12 kilowatts of battery storage Will provide all the necessary electricity for you to get the hell off the grid

[18:31] Unless you're running air conditioning or have an electric car, then you'll need double that But let's just go with 5,000 watts So let's say we're in Nicaragua looking at the chart That irradiance number ranges between five and seven depending on month of the year So let's just take the lowest number five to be conservative That'd be in the winter when you've got least amount of solar radiation In other words, the Sun isn't quite directly overhead so you get slightly less irradiance There's that word again All right, so you've got 5,000 watts of solar panels Multiply it by that number five That's 25,000 watts or 25 kilowatts, right? That means 25,000 watts will be what on average your system puts out every day

[19:17] And of course, there'll be some times during the year when that number is higher But like I said, we're taking the lowest number the worst case Even so there'll be some months out of the year where it's a seven So seven times five is 35 That means during a couple of months of the year You'll be generating 35,000 watts per day Now I know that might not mean much to you, but here's where it all fits in If like I said, worst case, your system is putting out 25,000 watts a day That's 25 kilowatts That means in a month of 30 days That's 750,000 watts or 750 kilowatts Produced by your system in one month Now I want you to go into your junk drawer and pull out your last electric bill Look at it, tell me how many kilowatts you used and thus paid for, I hope, last month

[20:04] Well, the average American up in the States who's got air conditioning Will probably use between around 600 and 1,000 kilowatts every month However, the average expat or gringo here in Latin America In the altiplano, meaning he doesn't have air conditioning Will use between 200 and 500 kilowatts per month So what's that tell you? If your system's putting out 750 kilowatts a month And you're only using 2, 3, 4, or 500 kilowatts per month As do most all gringos and expats in the altiplano That means your system is putting out quite a bit more than you'll actually use But that's okay, it's always better with solar to over design a bit So then how do you find a solar irradiance chart for your area? Well, if you're in the States, just look up irradiance charts

[20:49] And you'll find them easily But for Central America, South America, and the Caribbean It's not easy to find a monthly chart But you can find a generalized map or chart for the entire year And there, like the map I'm looking at right now, they have a yearly average And that average is between 5 and 6 In the end, it's not all that complicated For your system, just use the number 5 Same as the previous example However, you can get real nitpicky about it And track this stuff month to month But really, almost anywhere in Central America, the Caribbean And places north of Argentina and South America The sun is so strong and predictable You don't have to get nitpicky about it So again, when in doubt, use the irradiance number 5 Which brings us to the next question

[21:35] What's the best angle to mount your solar panels on your roof? Well, you heard me mention in a previous show That you never want to put your panels absolutely flat Although that would be ideal for collecting the most amount of sun They'll pool water And over time, the dust and the gunk will settle That means a lot of unnecessary maintenance My advice is, if you're south of the border Make sure you're tilted at least 5 degrees off the horizontal And forget about these people who talk about solar tracking You know, that would be setting up your panels at different angles During the year to capture the most sun That kind of setup is only cost effective if you live way up north In the snow belt Where the sun swings along a huge angle from summer to winter Now, luckily here in Latin America

[22:21] I'd say about 80% of all roofs are flat And the rest at some angle But usually a very shallow angle So pretty much no matter what kind of roof you have down here You could fasten your panels directly to them Without any crazy ass erector set angles And even if you have a pitched roof You really don't have to go through the extra trouble Of trying to figure out how to make your panels almost level What you really have to worry about is shade You have to make sure there's no tall buildings or trees nearby That might end up shading your solar panels sometime during the day By the way, I'm not a big fan of ground mounting your solar panels You know, sinking some poles in the earth And building a lattice and hanging the panels on those What's the point? It's an extra expense Just put them up on your roof

[23:06] That is, of course, unless you're in the unfortunate position Of having your roof pick up some shade during the day That you can't control A tall building down the street Some trees in a neighbor's yard You can't do much about that Then you might be stuck with mounting them in your backyard somewhere But that'd be a rare occurrence However, I've seen some people mount their solar panels On top of a carport That's a great idea Your choice All right, let's talk about insulation Somewhat of a conundrum here in Latin America Because no one I mean no one uses it In fact, it's almost impossible to find a role Of that good old itchy fiberglass insulation Man, is that stuff nasty to work with Although you'll find lots of what they call DuraPort Or DuroPort Big white, pink, or blue styrofoam sheets

[23:52] They come in all sizes, shapes, and thicknesses down here, too They use it here on foundations below grade So if you plan on insulating anything Use that stuff It works great Now, you longtime listeners might remember me mentioning If you're going to build a house At least insulate your bedroom However, if you're in the altiplano Disregard that You won't be heating or air conditioning your place But if you're on the coast or in lower elevations You will be using air conditioning I guarantee it Now, if you're not building a house And you're buying or renting Then it's not worth it to insulate Sure, insulation's good It's great Problem is All good houses anywhere Are usually concrete and brick A real pain in the ass to insulate In a traditional way And almost no one ever does it You see, concrete, block, and brick buildings

[24:38] Don't have hollow walls to insulate That means there's no duct work, either That means you'll be using one or more of those Mini-split air conditioners I mentioned on the last show So again, by all means If you're going to build from scratch Insulate your bedroom, at least But if you're buying or renting an existing structure Forget about it It's not worth it Oh, and another thing You'll almost never find double-pane Or triple-pane windows here in Latin America, either And, you know, if you're going to insulate a room You're going to at least want double-pane windows, right? Well, try finding them By the way, all this is just lip service If you have full off-the-grid solar power Because you really won't care If your place is insulated or not Because you're getting all that free power And if you don't use it, it's just wasted Isn't that funny? If you go full off-the-grid solar

[25:25] You can start wasting electricity again Just like in the good old bad old days of cheap energy Hey, I'm not recommending it But if you do have a nice off-the-grid system Your days of bitching to your significant other About too many lights being on And lights being on in rooms that are unused Well, those days are over Oh, and by the way, if you go solar You're going to have to use those LED lights Nothing wrong with that They've even got some natural warm yellow LED lights Now that look almost exactly like the light Coming from an incandescent But know this They put out some dirty RF frequencies I've measured them myself with my EMF meter And I found you want to keep those things At least two feet away from you Then you're absolutely safe And the RF drops off dramatically That is, unless you're using a dimmer

[26:11] Turns out dimmers put out all kinds of dirty energy Both at the dimmer and the LED lights you're controlling So try to avoid dimmers, at least for now I'm sure in the future they'll come up with a dimmer That's very well shielded That'd be easy, by the way But so far nobody has Why? Because probably only one in 10,000 people Has an EMF meter To check the kind of junk they're putting Do you have your EMF meter out of hand? I know they cost a little over $100 for a good one But well worth it Especially if you live in a city or a congested area You'd be surprised if there's a lot of RFI around How it can interfere with your sleeping habits And worse All right, so once again I repeat Don't worry too much about insulation If you find a nice house you're going to buy your rent And it doesn't have any at all

[26:57] And it probably won't And it won't have double or triple pane windows either Nor weather stripping Don't worry about it It's not the end of the world Funny thing is though Most people who do have double pane windows They get them Because they drastically reduce outside noise That's why you'll see once in a while Double pane windows in a residential tower In a highly congested area That way tenants won't hear the chicken buses horns in traffic In fact I've been in a couple of residential towers Where they've had units for sale And it says right on the pamphlet Double pane windows for noise reduction Not a word about energy conservation It's all about marketing for noise reduction You've been listening to The Expat Files Living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email Theexpatfiles.gmail.com

[27:45] And if you want to get on the waiting list For my next week-long Expat Insider Seminar In Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a 2-5 year head start On your plan B Send me an email Theexpatfiles.gmail.com No spamos