Also,the specialists were excellent but understandably requird booking in advance because they had surgeries to perform which takes priority.
NZ’s healthcare standards is second to none in quality and it is a socialized system.

As far as the Telecom in NZ it is on par with any large Monolopy. The service is average, the product is average and the prices are high. But that is what you can expect from a Corporate Monolopy.

Don’t “throw the baby out with the bath water”. There’s a reason that EVERY industrialized nation BESIDES the United States provides healthcare to all of its citizens through some kind of “socialized medicine”.

Health care in America is becoming a privilege of being wealthy or having a wealthy employer, but even huge corporations like GM are feeling the pinch. So should health care be a “right” of all people, or should it be a “privilege” for the wealthy who can pay for it?

Costa Rica’s citizens did pass CAFTA, but barely. I believe it was 51% for and 49% against. The Costa Rican government was caught intentionally lying and inciting fear among the population to pass CAFTA. The US government also partook in the fear mongering by stating if the referendum did not pass by the due date, the US would basically stop trade with CR. All lies. The Costa Rican government spent millions marketing CAFTA where those against CAFTA had to start a grass-roots campaign that, “amazingly”, almost won. How can the majority of the Costa Rican population be so informed when they are being fed lies from the government?

Now that CAFTA has passed, what company in their right mind is going to upgrade all these services you talk about? Costa Rica, with its 4 to 4.5 million person population, is not near large enough to recover a companies return on investment for something like upgrading cell service or high speed internet. Why would the price of car insurance go down? Insurance companies need to make a profit, and with Costa Rica’s car accident and theft rate, the premiums will be just as high as they are now. How would healthcare get any better? Sure, the US has good doctors and facilities but half the US population can’t afford it.

Here is a not so distant issue I see CR having. Right now I am on a project pulling jobs out of India back to the US. Here is how General Electric determines the cost effectiveness of outsourcing. When, lets say the salary for a Costa Rican, increases to 1/3rd that of an American’s salary for the same job, the outsourcing is no longer cost effective. India has just approached that mark. We are now “farmshoring” the jobs back to the US in rural areas with low costs of living. The reason I bring this up is, most of the good jobs in CR are from outsourced US/British jobs. With Costa Rica’s cost of living rising at an alarming rate, pay will increase and approach the point India is at now. I believe CAFTA will speed this scenario up. A few people will get rich, but who is going to suffer once the crash comes? In fact, Costa Rica is already losing business to Panama due to the reason stated above. HP has already been aggressively exploring moving some of its operation to Panama.

Once a country gets into bed with the US, they will prosper, but, once the US sees a better deal, they throw them under the bus.

My Tica fiancé is currently conducting a study on how the “NO TLC” movement came to fruition. That strong of a movement had never been witnessed in Costa Rica’s recent history. Tico’s are brought up to be amiable and non-confrontational which makes it easy for the government to do just about anything it wants. The movement against CAFTA was so strong, some believe it is a turning point in Costa Rica’s political sphere.

Trying to work with the system, I worked a deal with my neighbor to buy one of his lines, we went to the ICE signed a bunch of papers, and they said everything was good and done, and in about 15 days they would move the line. I felt good, paid my neighbor and we went on our way. 2 months later nothing.

To make a long story short, I returned to the Ice about 6 times over another 8 week period and every time they had a new excuse, “we lost the papers”, “we couldn’t find the house”, “the truck has been broken” “we needed to change your number” etc etc, and then finally “we accidentally gave your line to someone else”. They told me I could sue them, if I wanted lol.

I broke down and bought an expensive satellite dish and service from a gringo run business. We now have reliable high speed internet and cheap calling through Skype and Vonage. I’m happy now.

So, If CAFTA would put the ICE out of biz, I’m all for it!

Mo’e

I guess the TDMA frequencies will be sold to someone like the second richest man in the world.

No way to forget THAT house. He bought that home before arriving here… nice house though even if a bit phallic

I never heard from him again after I did some tech work at his home (well maybe once) so I have no idea if he is still around.

That is really not too uncommon though… I meet a ton of people here and then they just sort of vanish. That too is not surprising as so many people never make it though the first year in CR. Then they feel embarrassed that they didn’t make it after investing in a home etc. That makes it harder to keep in contact afterwards because I am often the one who warned them to not buy property or make permanent changes to their lives until they have lived here for 9 months to a year. They ignore the advise then feel a bit stupid when they find themselves packing up. Everyone thinks they are the exception and of course they are not… then they don’t want to be reminded that they were warned.

Quien sabe!