Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller dives into the challenges of living in Latin America, particularly focusing on the difficulties of setting up a solar power system. He critiques the lack of attention to detail in construction and manufacturing, using examples like Fender guitars made in Mexico versus Japan to illustrate the quality issues. He also touches on the cultural differences in how people approach tasks, comparing the meticulousness of gringos and Europeans to the more laid-back approach of Latinos. The segment ends with a discussion on the popularity of the song 'Stairway to Heaven' in music stores and the mixed reactions to Johnny's detailed solar power content.
Johnny also discusses the feasibility of setting up a solar power system for expats in Latin America. He notes that some people who have the financial means may opt to pay for electricity rather than invest in solar, but he argues that preparing for the future is essential. He suggests that even if one is in a place like Latin America or Cleveland, the future will inevitably change, making solar power a wise investment. Johnny also mentions that many of his listeners are financially capable and interested in off-grid living, but they are still curious about the best solar systems available. He then shifts to discussing his reading habits, including non-fiction books, biographies, and podcasts, and mentions his preference for the Old Testament over other religious texts. He also shares a humorous anecdote about a vegan expat and his views on animal suffering, highlighting the hypocrisy of excluding certain animals from his ethical considerations.
Johnny recounts his childhood experiences with reading labels on household products, emphasizing his early interest in understanding ingredients. He then discusses his podcast listening habits, highlighting specific shows like Joe Rogan, Richard Martin, and others, and recommends them. He also shares insights on expat life in Ecuador, particularly in Cuenca, and discusses the legal system there, emphasizing the importance of having a local lawyer.
Johnny Mueller recounts a story about a Colombian architect who was wrongfully jailed after his landlord planted pot plants in his fields and called the police. The architect was released after three days and paid $200 per month to be treated like a 'higher class' prisoner. Johnny also discusses a recent bus accident in Ecuador that resulted in nine deaths and 32 injuries, highlighting the frequency of such incidents in Latin America despite the presence of modern transportation amenities. He points out that while power and cellular service are generally first-world in Ecuador, roads and bridges are only well-maintained in wealthy or upscale areas, with neglect in middle and lower-middle-class neighborhoods. Johnny mentions the availability of cheap hotels and hostels in lower-middle-class neighborhoods, which are often unsafe for expats to live in but are popular among backpackers. He also promotes his upcoming expat seminar in July 2019, which includes information about residency opportunities in Guatemala.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller discusses his experience with health insurance in Colombia and other Latin American countries. He highlights the mandatory health insurance coverage, which includes pre-existing conditions and costs around $30 a month. However, he notes that the system can be slow, with long waits and referrals to specialists. He also mentions the option of purchasing private insurance for better service, which can cost around $100 a month. Johnny shares his personal experience with a medical issue in Mexico, where he paid out-of-pocket for treatment, which he found to be significantly cheaper than in the United States. He advises expats to be cautious when choosing insurance, as many brokers may add unnecessary extras. He emphasizes the importance of speaking Spanish and seeking advice from experienced expats to find good deals.
Topics
Living in Latin America, Solar power systems, Cultural differences, Quality control in manufacturing, Music stores and guitar players, Financial planning for off-grid living, Reading habits and book recommendations, Religious and ethical considerations, Podcast recommendations, Expat life in Ecuador, Legal system in Latin America, Childhood experiences with product labels
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:06 Johnny's Personal Connection to Latin America 00:00:14 Welcome to The Expat Files 00:00:20 The Show's Focus and Content 00:00:26 Introduction to the Topic of Solar Power 00:00:31 Johnny's Previous Discussions on Solar Power 00:00:37 The Challenges of Going Off the Grid 00:00:42 Johnny's Critique of Latino Attention to Detail 00:05:54 Setting Up a Solar Power System 00:05:56 Why Not Pay for Electricity? 00:06:13 The Future Will Change 00:06:37 The Value of Being Off the Grid 00:07:19 Reading Habits and Book Recommendations 00:08:53 Preference for the Old Testament 00:09:19 The Vegan Expat's Perspective 00:11:32 Early Life and Label Reading Habits 00:12:05 Podcast Listening Habits 00:13:06 Recommendation of Richard Martin's Podcast 00:14:41 Ecuador and Expat Life 00:16:45 Legal System and Importance of a Local Lawyer 00:17:47 The Jailed Architect and the $200 Monthly Payment for Better Treatment 00:19:10 A Fatal Bus Accident in Ecuador Highlights Transportation Risks 00:19:58 Infrastructure Disparities in Cuenca: Wealthy vs. Lower-Middle-Class Areas 00:23:05 Mandatory Health Insurance in Colombia 00:23:17 Cost of Mandatory Health Insurance 00:24:16 Private Health Insurance in Colombia 00:25:17 Cost Comparison: Mexico vs. United States 00:26:00 Insurance Advice for Expats
Transcript
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 out to play and now 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 You know in the last few shows I've been talking a lot about how to put together a solar power system of your own Getting off the grid here in Latin America or nearly off the grid first world gringo style that is not Latin style Sorry about that Latinos, but I know how if left unattended and unsupervised how you put things together
[00:49] I've seen it. I know this sounds harsh But unless you've got a gringo or a European the guy who's trained you up or is around to watch you You just don't pay attention to the details. I'm sorry It's exactly the same problem when you build a house even if it's to a hundred percent first world Specifications and blueprints and the funny thing is, you know, Latinos won't even argue with you about that They absolutely know they're shy on the details Just ask any Latino would he rather buy a brand new Honda for example, that was built in Japan Or a brand new Honda that was assembled in Mexico. They'll say Japan every time How do you like that by the way Honda does have an assembly plant in Mexico? Unfortunately, there are just countless examples of this. For example, I used to have a fender Stratocaster guitar made in the US
[01:38] I should never have sold that thing. But you know, you're going to college you need the dough You don't play out too much anymore and priorities change your shorted though You sell your stuff and you regret it every professional and B grade musicians been through it Then a few years later you get the craving again You hook up with some good musicians start a band, but you need a guitar in that case I bought another strat that one made in the very new at the time Fender Japanese plant it was a lot cheaper than the American made one. But man was it nice That was years ago when so many professional and very good guitar players thought Fender had sold out By opening up a plant in Japan. It was one of the early experiments in outsourcing Well, guess what? It turned out the Japanese strats were just as good as the ones made in the stage
[02:24] We couldn't tell the difference then sometime in the 80s Fender opened up a plant in Mexico big mistake Huge quality control problem. So they looked exactly like a US or a Japanese strata, right? Except on the nut up by the tuners. It said in very small letters made in Mexico Unlike the quality of the Japanese strats Which also said made in Japan up by the tuning pegs where it said Stratocaster Well when the results came in every professional guitarist I knew said they were just pieces of junk and you know, you could do the test yourself You could go into a big music store like one in Chicago That's got lots of instruments all over the place and you could find all three of those strats there and test them out side by side
[03:10] Same amp same song same volume same pickups same string gauge Well, let's just say that was the beginning of the end for the grand old company started by many a guitar players hero Leo Fender who I'm sure is rolling over in his grave ever since he was forced to sell that company to CBS Yep, CBS says in television CBS Oh and by the way professional guitar players and B grade guitar players like me refer to the quality Fender guitars as pre CBS They're considered far more desirable than anything Fender has produced since By the way, funny thing about guitar players when they're walking down the street and they pass a music store They cannot resist walking in and plucking out a few tunes That's the cool thing about music stores. They'll let you kick out a few tunes even if you're a complete hack
[03:57] Oh and here's a fun fact for you when you walk into a music store and there happens to be a lot of people around Plunk it away. Which song are you most likely to hear? By the way, when you've got two three or four guys who don't know each other in completely different parts of a store jamming away They're aware people are listening. So it's a kind of a macho amateur battle the guitars So as not to appear like a C grade doofus, you'll pull out your most practiced smoothest licks And you know, the truth is 95% of the people you see plunking away in a guitar store Never get good enough or in a band that's good enough to make any money So that may be the only time they're ever playing in public in a music store. Pretty sad, isn't it? Though it stands to reason why 95% of all the musical instruments ever sold are sitting in somebody's mother's attic right now
[04:47] Aren't they? Oh and about that song you're most likely to hear it's by no means a new song by the way Time's up. How about Stairway to Heaven? Oh God, I can't tell you how many musicians have a love-hate relationship with that song when it came out They loved it when it ended up in elevators dentists offices and on music they learned to hate it Speaking of love-hate relationships been getting a few love-hate emails saying Johnny Absolutely love that you're going into detail on that solar stuff I've always been super interested in it, but I'm not that technical and there's just so much stuff to wade through Thanks for how you're breaking it down Then I get emails from people saying enough with the solar already Johnny And you know the funny things most of the people who say screw it Johnny quit the solar stuff
[05:34] Those are almost always coming from people who are career professionals used to paying people to do things for them like lawyers doctors accountants You know people who aren't used to getting their fingernails dirty on anything You know the type guys who've probably never picked up a hammer or a wrench in the last 10 years Nothing wrong with that if you make the kind of dough to pay people to do things for you Like set up a solar power system Why not if you've got people to clean the house iron the clothes do the gardening polish up the beamer and the catamaran? Etc some people are thinking if they've got the dough and they move to Latin America They'll just pay for the electricity whatever it costs. They're thinking who needs solar power I'll just stay connected to the grid and pay whatever it takes of course That's an option, but only if you think things are never gonna change the future is gonna be the same as today Well, it's not that's why it's a very good move to be able to generate at least some of your own power
[06:23] Hey, it doesn't matter if you're in Latin America CL or Cleveland soon enough The poop is gonna hit the ventilator and you know it though I'd say most of the listeners to this show have more than the average amount of money and Most of them are way above average So they know the value of being able to get off the grid and of course most of you don't have solar systems But are very curious about them and want to have one eventually like me You don't want to get ripped off But just to get the best available system with the least amount of maintenance at the best price So then what's it gonna be? Do you want me to continue on talking about this solar stuff because I know if I dedicated Maybe two or three more shows to it I mean completely will be done with it for a long long time Or do you want me to just slip in a few segments here and there or just drop it completely? So what's it gonna be? Oh
[07:10] And I also get quite a few emails people asking me what programs I listen to what podcast radio shows TV shows Well, for one I like to read books non-fiction I rarely read fiction mostly biographies science and general interest and I like sociology anthropology and economic themes to ones I've read this year the black swan others that come to mind anti-fragile skin in the game There's factfulness and tribe sapiens a real good one Hitler in Argentina by Harry Cooper That was an eye-opener. Oh and the psychopath test by John Ronson with that when I think I was just curious as to where I rank On that scale. I recently read the biography of Pulitzer
[07:55] You know the guy who the prize is named after oh and the biographies of Peter Sellers Robert Shaw Johnny Carson Martin Scorsese Stanley Kubrick Kublai Khan Alexander the Great anyway, those are just a few of the books I've read in the last year I usually try to read about a book a week used to read to when I wasn't traveling so much as I have been recently I always have my iPod with me and I've got some audio books loaded in there too And I'm stuck on a plane or car or bus not a chicken bus where you can't read and in my iPod I have my favorite podcast too. I actually subscribe that it's paid 60 bucks a year to Caravan to midnight That's John Wells's program But I don't listen to all the episodes because about half the time He's got priests rabbis and pastors who absolutely bore you to death with the Armageddon crap
[08:43] You might remember you longtime listeners Anyway that I mentioned I went to Catholic school all my life, so I've read the Bible well Let's just say way too many times Actually, I much prefer the Old Testament because man God in the Old Testament. He was like a supernatural dirty Harry He invented the disaster movie bottom line I'm really not interested at all about what true believers have to say about their religion morality and philosophy Yes, but religion well to each his own better yet keep it to yourself Oh by the way the other day was talking to a very religious expat gringo vegan really nice guy And I asked him how he became a vegan. He said basically. I just don't want to see animals suffer He said he was raised on a farm out in the boonies and as a kid
[09:30] He'd go duck and deer hunting with his brothers and his dad he didn't like that much But he went along with it cuz it was a family thing and after he saw a few documentaries on factory farms Especially one on salmon. He just couldn't eat meat or fish again. Hey by the way. I saw that one on salmon It's horrific and not so much about the cruelty thing you just have to see it I'm a fish eater, but I'll never eat salmon again So anyway this very intelligent nice vegan gringo expat said man It's all about the fact that I don't want to see animals harm. I said you mean just the cute animals, right? What about rats mosquitoes flies and kookarachas, and he said well I'll usually give him one chance if there's a rat or a mouse in the house I'll try to shoo him out the door, and I said well What about mosquitoes flies kookarachas even rats they're vectors they carry disease
[10:18] You know he says well I'll give him one chance and if they don't lay off I'll kill him and I said well Don't you think that's rather hypocritical and he said with a sincere and straight face They'll be reincarnated to a higher and more productive life form I said says who he said Buddha and the Dalai Lama of course to which I said I'd like to have a hidden camera on the Dalai Lama 24 7 I'm wondering how many ants he steps on and how many insects. He lets suck his blood hmm Then I said but you know if I was forced to select the religion to follow it would be Buddhism because the Buddha himself Is always depicted as a smiling happy jolly kind of bald version of Santa Claus in an obi-wan Kenobi robe whereas with every other religion the head guy is a sad looking stoic distressed kind of guy or worse
[11:06] Hey, you know the Buddha if he was hitchhiking. I'd pick him up in a second the other guys I don't think so I mean come on who wouldn't want to party with Buddha, but I digress as usual Oh, yeah, what shows and podcasts do I listen to what kind of blogs articles and books do I read? Well, you know, I'm almost always listening to or reading something I was born I think with an extra gene for curiosity and nosiness and as a result I've got my ass kicked more than a few times In fact, I remember way back when even when I was a little kid six or seven years old I'd be in the John sitting on the throne waiting for peristalsis, you know things to happen I'd be reading the instructions and the ingredient lists on everything under the counter the drain over the Clorox the Trojans Everything that had a label
[11:52] So by the time I was 10 or 12 I'd go to the grocery store with a mom and read all the ingredients of the labels of the things she picked off the shelves In fact, I remember even back then she had some great words of wisdom. She says if you can't pronounce it don't buy it Anyway, as far as podcasts, I listened to John B Wells caravan to midnight, but not all of them probably every other one and I listened to Joe Rogan You've heard of him, right? He's the most famous podcast are out there though I probably only listen to one out of five of his broadcasts because he mostly has sports and entertainment figures on there But about every five shows he has a world famous paleontologist archaeologist geologist Egyptologist cosmologists some kind of world-renowned egghead I don't know how he does it probably because he's got such a popular show two or three million viewers a show and my
[12:40] Favorite guest on his show is a guy named Gad sad g-a-d S-a-a-d he's got master's and doctor's degrees in mathematics computers and cognitive psychology and marketing He's a Lebanese Canadian. How about that? Just go on YouTube and put in Joe Rogan Gad sad Believe me, you will not regret it. Now. There's one more podcast. I always listen to it might ring a bell That's of course Richard Martin. He's a brilliant financial analyst who used to be on PRN for years But for the last couple of years, he's been on his own. You can find him by going to www dot Richard Martin's wake up call Dot-pod being calm. Oh one word Richard Martin's wake up call dot-pod being calm
[13:26] I highly recommend that show I listen to it almost all the time. I know some people like to say he's a doom and gloom That's what you get when you're ahead of your time because everything he said so far has proven true So if you want to get a tough love glimpse into the near future man, listen to Richard Martin I do I look forward to it when sometimes I'll download Podcasts from Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris and some of the crypto guys that I think are really on top of it And the fact is every day I can read and listen to podcasts for hours on end because I don't watch any regular TV programs Just occasionally Latin American six o'clock news. Sure I've got a TV but I only use it as a monitor to watch movies and documentaries and this week I saw two great documentaries once called Icarus. Wow, that one will ramp up your testosterone
[14:14] Guys and girls and by the way Just remember the name of that documentary that totally put me off salmon and here before that I thought tilapia was the dirtiest fish in the world. Just go to YouTube and type in this farmed Norwegian salmon Most toxic fish in the world. It's just an hour long watch it. All right changing gears a bit I just like to throw a little local Ecuadorian Cuenca Ecuador news at you because you see people send me links to rags like International living all the time that say Cuenca Ecuador and Ecuador in general is the place to go. Don't you know Johnny? It's different than other Latin countries less crime better human rights situation less corruption, too Don't believe it. What I've been finding is when gringos and expat rags say one particular Latin countries better than the rest
[15:00] What they're really kind of saying is one particular Latin country is more gringo wise than another which in my opinion is the absolute Wrong way to look at things. Anyway in this week's news come in directly out of Cuenca For example, it says an inmate was killed at the Central Rehabilitation Social Tour de jail He was killed in a fight in the maximum security wing One of the aggressors died when he was hit with a tear gas bomb by the responding guards Ouch another inmate who was attacked received at least 20 stab wounds Well, they had to make sure right then it says get this the incident was recorded by a number of inmates with cell phones So even in jail everyone's got that cell phone ready for that ideal photo. What hmm? I can see those prisoner Facebook pages now
[15:47] photo after photo of gourmet prison dinner slop Interspersed with the occasional photo of a tattoo session and a few stabbings who'd have thought that prisoners would have their own Facebook pages Hmm. I wonder if they'll let Zuckerberg keep his Facebook page when he gets thrown in the slammer now You know throughout Latin America. There isn't a single jailer prison that allows inmates to have cell phones Well, you know what they say rules are meant to be broken, right? By the way, speaking of Latin jails, you know People ask me should they be worried about possibly going to jail for whatever reason or even perhaps For no reason because you know, this is Latin America, right? They've heard their rumors They've seen the Hollywood movies and you know, the funny thing is 28 years I've been here in Latin America and I've known hundreds if not thousands of gringles and expats and I've never known a single one
[16:36] Who's ever spent even one hour in a Latin jail? Even gringles and expats who've been caught for various offenses. They never spent a minute in jail Why because they had in their possession the phone number of their Latin lawyer, which is region 2624 why you have to have a lawyer who's your friend a guy or gal who knows you by name who will instantly go to bat for You the lesson here is don't jump around from this lawyer to that lawyer and that's something I know Unfortunately, a lot of low-budget backpacker types will do just to save a few pesos Worse yet are those gringles and expats even backpackers who come down and never hook up with a lawyer until they actually need one Then the panic and the pressures on not a good idea In fact, I've only got one friend that kind of acquaintance who's ever been in a jail and it was only there for a couple of
[17:25] Days. I told that story on a previous show probably three years ago now a Colombian architect whose landlord set him up You might recall that story He and his wife rented a big piece of land and started growing some specialty spices But they got too successful at it and the landlord tried to evict him to take over the business But they had an ironclad contract So instead landlord had someone plant pot plants in his fields and then he called the cops that came busted a guy He went to jail, but his lawyer got him out in three days and here's the funny thing something I'm sure you didn't know as soon as he Walked into the jail a guy approached him and said look for 200 bucks a month. He'll be completely protected No one will screw with you. You'll have good food the use of the cell phone You'll have all the rights and privileges of a free man
[18:12] You won't have to do a lick of work and at that moment because he didn't know how long he was gonna be stuck in jail He had his wife hand over 200 bucks in an envelope to a runner in the Central Park outside the prison And he said immediately when that happened He was elevated to a higher class of prisoner In fact, he was moved into a different wing of the prison with TVs refrigerators Barbecues coke machines decent furniture pinball machines pool table kind of like a bar and the other people the 90% who couldn't pay The 200 bucks. Well, who do you think that all the cleaning mopping washing cooking the grunt work? But where were we? Oh, yeah talking about the news out of Cuenca now I know ranks like international living will tell you how the infrastructure and Transportation has been all geared up to first-world levels in places like Cuenca Ecuador specifically because they're the flavor of the month
[19:02] Or the year for international living anyway But when you actually get down to the nitty-gritty and read the articles coming out of the local papers You'll hear things like this For example this week in a bus accident nine people were killed and 32 injured after a Pullman bus Going from Quito to Cuenca overturned on the e35 in Bolivar Canton now There's something those first-world expat rags won't tell you about Especially since we're talking about a Pullman bus. That's no chicken bus Those are generally double-decker greyhound buses air-conditioned Wi-Fi and USB Connections restroom and the latest greatest pirated movies on board, etc Yep, fatal public and private transportation wrecks are so common here in Latin America That sometimes they don't even rate three lines in the local paper
[19:49] So then where are all those road and infrastructure improvements? Well, of course power and cellular service are pretty much first world because they're privatized in most land countries But roads and bridges forget about it unless you live in a wealthy or upscale subdivision or neighborhood Because that's where the high and mighty and the movers and shakers live as well as many of us expats and gringos So that's why the roads are generally pretty good in the landscaping Spectacular and the shopping malls first world all the way loaded to the gills with first world franchise It's when you get out of the so-called wealthy areas to the middle and lower middle class neighborhoods and barrios That's when you start seeing the transition to litter garbage Busted up sidewalks and streets Volkswagen sized potholes manhole covers missing stolen actually for the metal
[20:37] By the way, these are not places. Most gringos and expats want to live drive through maybe once in a while No problem, but live there No, but man in those middle class and lower middle class barrios the hotels and hostels are so cheap So often when I'm driving through one of them, I take a note or a photo of a sign that says hotel Five seven eight or ten bucks in local funny money, of course such a deal, huh backpackers delight But when it comes to renting a hotel or a hostel in a neighborhood like that you get what you pay for it besides that Who wants to rent a room in a hotel or hostel when you can't even be sure it's safe to walk around at night The funny thing about Latin American middle-class neighborhoods or barrios We're talking about Latino middle class, which is pretty much lower middle class or trailer trash shots. Hey, believe me
[21:22] I'm not trying to be a judgmental jerk here. Well, maybe a little judgmental It's just that I've known hundreds of Latinos who tell me they're middle class And when we stop in their neighborhood, I drop them off or something those neighborhoods look a lot like lower middle-class scruffy Chicago neighborhoods I'd never want to live in but to Latinos That's middle class and upper middle class to the average Latino is what we call Solid middle class in the USA. Now, of course, you'll see all that in much much more with your own eyes If you come down to my July 2019 expat insider seminar It's coming up in about a month and a half So you got plenty of time to sign up and remember the early bird discounts will only be in effect until June 1st So you got about two weeks to sign up and save 500 bucks a person By the way, how is your plan be coming?
[22:09] Well, if you want to get it on the fast track in a big way Just go to www.thenewexpat.com and click on Johnny's seminar link Not only will you find out about the seminar, but you'll find out about those great John Galt post seminar trips and how to apply for your Permanent or temporary residency in Guatemala at the same time you're down for the seminar. All right now Here's an email from Miguelito. That's Mike from Colombia says saludos de Colombia Johnny Miguelito here writing from sunny, San Gil, Colombia You did a rundown on buying houses in Latin America and talked about my experience on episode 555 that was two years ago or so since then I have bought another house a nice country home all for around 125,000 us how about that, but I wanted to share my experience here in Colombia regarding health insurance
[23:00] There is of course the mandatory coverage required. Yeah, meet Johnny here Did you know if you work in Colombia that is on the books you have to have mandatory health care coverage Then he says the basic mandatory coverage does include pre-existing conditions and runs about 30 bucks a month Man, if you can't afford that you shouldn't be in Colombia, right? Anyway, he says if that's all you have due to finances, etc. It is adequate, but that's about it Long waits in the reception room and often a referral to a specialist or to schedule another appointment takes well forever There is no deductible and the copay runs about four dollars and fifty cents even with this cheap thirty dollar a month insurance Trying to explain what a deductible is to a Colombian. Oh is pretty entertaining Johnny
[23:48] Once you get past the bewildered look on their faces, the usual comment is hmm, but they're stealing from you then It's supposed to be free and my response. Well, no Sherlock what else is new but alas, they don't know who Sherlock is either So many people will just buy a private policy then and stack it upon the government basic policy. That's required That'll run you about a hundred dollars a month with this You really do get top-notch first-world hospitalization with US and European trained bilingual doctors as for my personal experience He says it's from February of this year. I work as a private contractor a police instructor, by the way Just lately in Mexico
[24:34] Coincidentally, I happen to be in Puebla when the local volcano el Blew its top and I got a nasty case of ash-induced bronchitis So I went to the doctor in Mexico as a particular that means I don't have insurance I'm paying out of my pocket. The doc was both a GP and a surgeon the consultation cost a cool 17 bucks US I even had two follow-up calls that cost nothing. They were included I did though have to walk four blocks to have a full panel chest x-ray survey, which was 25 bucks The various antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. I was prescribed for a whole month ran me another 30 bucks grand total 72 bucks who knows what that would have cost in the States a
[25:22] Friend of mine up there told me it cost three hundred dollars just to touch a doctor's doorknob Did that come out right? So being an impatient gringo and not wanting to wait three hours in the reception room. I always pay out of pocket That's the way I roll until and unless something grave happens to me then I'm covered for a hundred and thirty bucks a month Johnny love the show longtime listener off to buy my solar panels now. Ciao Miguelito. Well, thanks for that big little the reason why I read that one is to once again reinforce the fact that Almost any gringo or expat coming down under the age of 65 Anyway can get really cheap health care insurance and get first-world treatment all the way a good round figures about a hundred bucks a month
[26:08] Of course as you approach old age, you'll pay a little more But it's almost never over 200 bucks for a single that is but you have to keep your eyes and ears open and get the proper Advice the problem is for most newbie gringos and expats They don't speak Spanish and they look on English speaking blogs and websites for English insurance brokers or bilingual Latin insurance brokers They know you're a newbie and they'll often pile on extras. You don't need even if it's double or triple with the locals pay You'll think it's a great deal. You look at it and say the co-payment is so damn cheap You can't believe it, especially when you know people up in the states who are carrying $5,000 deductibles. In fact, I'm always looking at different kinds of Latin American insurance policies I don't think I've ever seen a yearly deductible of more than 250 bucks
[26:54] And normally it's something like 50 bucks and the co-payments take the example of going to a specialist You might pay a whopping two three five even seven dollars So how do you find those fantastic insurance deals? Well, the key here is to be able to speak Spanish and you know 98% of gringos and expats can't or when you get down you hook up with someone in the know Beating a gringo or expat who's been down a long long time and who's figured out the system and who's not getting jabbed for gringo Prices by the way, that'd be reason two thousand three hundred and twenty six Why you really have to come down to my expat inside of seminar because we go over all of that. We connect you We hook you up. That's our job You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B, you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me
[27:40] But first download my free plan B questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet if you want to get your plan B going from right up there in the states Just sign up for my 9-hour expat essentials course get the perfect plan B blueprint by going to the expat files.com Academy