Open Thread
Need a Hand?
Your Next Project Starts with BrownstonerMost Recent Articles
Need a Hand?
Your Next Project Starts with Brownstoner
My daughter had to have surgery when she was 7 mos old. Full anaesthesia, under the knife, the whole thing. It cost us around $2k Aussie, which at the time was about US$1,500. Cash on the barrelhead, amazing service, amazing facility, amazing doctors, amazing follow-up.
Here? Holy crap don’t even get me started. US$1,500 wouldn’t even start to cover the medical supplies.
I blame the lawyers for most of this.
U.S. Pays Landlords While Four Empire State Buildings Sit Empty
March 3 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. will pay more than $5
billion in rent to commercial landlords this year while almost 12 million square feet of government-owned space for nondefense employees — the equivalent of four Empire State Buildings — sits vacant.
Not really JB. Health care costs very little there compared to here. You go see a doctor and he treats you. It’s really that simple. There isn’t this culture of defensive medicine that you get here in the US (you can probably tell from this that I squarely blame the plaintiffs’ lawyers for most of the problems in our system).
Also, the people that work in the US Embassies are waaay smarter than your average paper pusher. It’s a lifestyle decision.
Yes, I know that jessi, but they are not the lazy-ass, entitled workers you find here.
I had to renew my passport back in 1995 and initially had a very favorable experience with the first person I spoke with (despite a long line) but then when the passports were handed out later, there was this obnoxious bitch of a woman who was rude to everyone.
i went back to the original guy and told him that sort of person shouldn’t be allowed to face the public and he said something about nothing can be done about it because “you know.”
I’ve had experiences win HK, Tokyo and Bangkok and all the staff there were delightful.
I also doubt they get the same benefits overseas.
Jackal, do people in AUS pay super high taxes for the medical they receive?
I agree with DIBS. Any time you can do something through a US consulate abroad rather than dealing with a bunch of petty bureaucrats here in the US it’s a much better experience.
Dave, are you talking about the US Embassy? It’s staffed by foreign service officers who work for the state dept – making them us govt employees.
Re: dealing with embassy in foreign country. IT IS A FAR BETTER EXPERIENCE THAN ANYTHING HERE. Basically, you are treated like royalty as an American citizen if you need services from the US embassy in a foreign country. Whatever they need to do is done with the utmost politeness and efficiency, unlike the treatment you recieve from our own US government employees, many of whom are lazy and rude and should be fired but can’t for various reasons!!!