Good Morning People/Wife is Shopping

Consider also keeping enough money for your airfare back to Oz. , somethings may well be cheaper to fly home to Brisbane , 6 hrs away , get sorted for free in public hospital and the fly back to Negros , as long as you are able to fly and if you can't fly deal with it there . Just move there and enjoy life my friend .

 

Good info, however I must clarify the statement "they no longer use steel in hip replacements". Stainless steel is still very commonly used, as well as titanium and chrome.

 

Excellent, absolutely spot on advice when it comes to having funds available to return to the home land in an emergency. If you plan on going to the Phils with limited funds as you've described. My fear would be ending up a Stranger in a stange land. I once mentioned an experience in a different thread a while ago. Aking Asawa and I were having a meal in the Mall in Cavite, when we were approached by a large, disheveled I assumed North American. He struck up a conversation and began to tell a story of how his Pinay g/f had died during child birth and he was left with a relative new born to care for. He had no money to buy diapers or tend to the childs needs, could we be of assistance? My 1st thought was, where's the infant nah? I became suspect and offered him a meal instead, which he declined. We left a few minutes later, and that quickly I saw no evidence of him, difficult for a large lumbering man. I am extremely cognizant of those that pan handle here in FL. Because of the weather, many come from the north in the winter time. But I was shocked and taken back that someone would be trying to do the same in the Phils.

 

Well Tom, you know what they say about the Abused, Sometimes they become Abusers, maybe, this is a trait of that, A scammed man becomes a scammer!

 

Right as rain Tito Jack. But no matter what the circumstance's are either by misfortune or design. Being in a 3rd World Country, with no safety net....would be a nightmare. I can swim the Rio Grande, the Pacific Ocean would be a daunting challenge. :(

 

Well the truth about life revolves around many things including money maybe we all need to remember that when it is not our dreams or aspirations we are striving to achieve..

 

Nightmare? more like a Horror Movie.

Absolutely correct Tom, I once got Stuck in Malaga Spain, Back in 2008, returning to Work from Dumaguete.
For some reason and I never found out why, it happened. My C/C would not work. The Bank and Card issuer knew I was away, hmmm come to think of it maybe they did not realize I was back.

Anyway, I was stuck 108 km only from Gibraltar. 146 Euro fare for the Taxi I just did not have. in fact, I had left my peso with Azon and all I had was 14 euros and 80 dollars, this I spent in Dubai. so I Landed in Spain with 5 Euros. enough for a Coffee & I bread roll.
I spent the night on a bench in Arrivals and was moved on by the Guadia Civil so many times they put me outside. Brrrrrrrrrrrr May in Spain after 7 weeks in the PI was Kin Cold. I was 60 years old, Ex- Military, I have been around a bit and Thought Ha Easy! Well I can tell you I have never been so Jittery in my Life. I went in the End to Departures and told them my Story, Luckily I got a decent staff on Duty. They let me use a Phone, 1 call and 1 & 1/2 Hours later I had a friend Pick me Up, This was in my own domain, EUROPE, I cant think how Frightened, I would have been if that situation would have been here. Plan B is so very important, and if that fails it always pays, to have a Plan C.

Luckily I feel most of us have that safety net with Our Good ladies But in cases of Health and New Comers to the Fantasy Islands. A nice Nest Egg is a must or a Gold card (As long as it Works )


JP

 

Although it was not an emergency situation(well then again I guess it was):D I found myself in China Towne Metro Manila, about to purchase our wedding bands, the card was run for approval and was declined. I could not understand the reason why, as I had a $10,000 open to buy. I had my debit card also and knew I had more than enough in my checking account. The sale went thru NP naman. I found out when I returned to the U.S. that my card had been blocked because I had NOT notified them of my trip. Having funds available in a different account was a life saver, not to mention Face Saver

 

I seem to one of the healthiest screwed up guys around I have a broken leg and chronic pain, a Fatty Liver and 3x Cysts on my left Kidney which the Dr's say are 'clean' cysts, slightly high Cholesterol, great sugar levels and still no sign of becoming a Diabetic (yet; altho my plan is to eat lots of malunggay vegetables and soups with a lil rice when I am back to lose weight to side step becoming type 2 diabetic like my Father and 2 sisters were)

So at this time, no chronic Illnesses that I am aware of unless 'pulling the p*ss' is ever classified as an illness later on

I had a look Jack, my first thought was PhilAm (Filipino + American) and I could not see if they cover other nationalities, do you know if they do?

With the amount of Aid Australia gives to Filipino, with the amount of Filipino working in Oz under the 457 Work Visa, and many agreements going back almost a hundred years with the Philippines, it does surprise me that the Australian and Philippine Governments do not have an agreement in place, but for Filipinos in Oz, they are all automatically covered under Medicare if they are on Low Incomes. I friend who arrived in Oz two months ago and started a job found out she was pregnant, so she is already covered by Medicare, and no has Maternity leave until her Baby is three months old, so I do see the benefits of living in Oz for some things...

It is the same in Oz, we have many Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese etc Doctors as many Aussie Doctors are working abroad for the higher incomes...

I read thru the links, the Metal and Plastic wear rates worry me with the 'filings' presenting a danger for infection. Since I contracted Golden Staph (Staphylococcus aureus) I am highly prone to contracting it again, often mixed with Streptococcal if I go outside and walk in bare feet, somehow the germ enters my feet which then affects my toes, seeing all the skin die then with the weeping, it falls off leaving my toes and part of my feet with nothing but bare flesh, so if there is a danger of infection due to the body trying to fight the foreign 'litter' inside my body from the joints wearing (high for plastic and metal joints) then that leaves me with Ceramic, and the Ceramic on Ceramic is the most expensive, they are also prone to fracturing and shattering, and in the past couple of months I have ballooned from 137 KG to 159 KG so I think I will take the advice of a Male Nurse I spoke to last week when he said "Brian, when your joints are grating bone to bone, learn how to crawl! It is better in the long run then problematic knee or hip replacements"...

As for misfortune, I do not view any of this as misfortune, for since my accident, I can see so many positives that have come from it making me a far better person today than where I was headed in my youth, everything good, and all of the bad, has made me the man I am today, and I like me today than who I was becoming before my accident, I seriously doubt I would be here today writing this now had I not had my accident...

Tony, what have you been told? I have been told that as soon as I leave the Country, I am no longer covered by Medicare, I will need to take out Private Health Insurance to make sure I can be dealt with by Dr's, I no longer am able to buy my Medicine in Oz as I am not covered under the Pharmaceuticals scheme or Medicare so must also buy all of my Meds in the Philippines.

The Break in my Leg is like a second Hip joint, it is held together by marrow that has leaked from the bone to form a joint made from Grizel, like the White you see on a Chicken Bone, so it is a soft flexible joint in the break, and if I were to pop/break that 'joint' then I would need to be flown out with Medical help as if I were a Spinal Injury Patient, that is my worse case scenario... :(

This is my Leg; (Note the angle of the bone from my Hip is pointing up instead of down at a 45 degree angle like it should be, meaning I could very easily dislocate my Hip joint also, then the large growth is where the Marrow has over time formed a 'joint' of sorts, and yes; I am a Medical freak which Doctors are fascinated by as they have never seen anything like this before, nor do they know 'what' to do with it...)

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Brian , I may be wrong , but one would think that being an Australian citizen that as soon as you re-enter the country you would have all entitlements availed as an Australian . May be worth a hypothetical phone call to medicare .