the Hughes': healthcare

Three more 'minor differences' in our new 'home.' Did you see the first Minor Differences post?

1. Bill paying is fun. Almost.

Paying bills here is awesome... as awesome as bill paying could actually be. Every bill you get looks the same whether it's for electric, rent, internet, or the ever-so-fun, heart attack inducing health insurance bill (we'll get to that later). The bills are orange in color and we have several options for how we want to pay them:

Online banking (we do this option): self-explanatory right? Go online. Enter the account # on the bill, insert amount, press 'submit.' Done.

Bank Multimat (atm type thing): take your bills, put in your atm card, stick the bills in the machine and confirm they are the correct amounts, click 'submit'. Done. It also prints you a nice summary of your bill paying activity.

Standing order: just like automatic withdraw. Nice for our stroke inducing rent payment.

Post office: I can take a bill to the post office and pay it there too.

These little orange fun-slips have made it much easier for us to function. We didn't know what to expect, but I'm glad the Swiss make it very easy. I don't have to create seventeen accounts to pay bills online, mail something in, or struggle to set up online bill pay.

2. Health insurance.

Here's an article that kind of compares US vs. Swiss insurance.

Every person living in Switzerland must purchase health insurance within three months of arriving. Everyone. You get this little id card that you even have to take skiing with you to prove you're insured. We took all three months to do it... we're cheap and were 'extra careful' during the three months of being uninsured here. It's pretty expensive, mostly because we don't have employer contributions anymore. Boo. We got the most basic plan and apparently dental plans are almost non-existent. I've heard you have to pay out of pocket for dental. I'm in the process of finding one who actually speaks English. We'll also be visiting Costco at home for contacts and my annual blindness exam. It's cheaper. I have horrible vision. Horrible (-7.00 to be exact). Without contacts, I'd need a stick and would have to use one of our unqualified seeing-eye-dogs to lead me around... which would guarantee death by bus or falling in a man-hole.

Health insurance purchase is mandated by the government, but provided by private companies. Each company is required to offer a basic plan (~300chf per month per person), but also offers more comprehensive and 'luxurious' plans if desired. Also, all of the healthcare costs (treatments and medicine) are fixed and the government subsidizes insurance for the poor (if healthcare is more than a certain % of income) to purchase the basic plan. Different from the US, but apparently healthcare here works fairly well and people are generally happy with it. We'll see. I don't like to get into the Obamacare debate because it makes me slightly angry, but I definitely like the lack of government involvement in healthcare over here... and Switzerland spends less than we do on it. Everyone is covered, people pay for what they want, prices are fixed, people get the treatment they need, and it's still private and competitive. We haven't been to the doctor yet, so we'll report back on our first experience.

Also, we've heard that having a baby here is basically like a trip to a 5-star resort (without a lazy river)... so 4-star then. You get amazing treatment and can stay for a long time. Sounds awesome, except the being pregnant part.

3. Air conditioning is for the birds.

It's July if you hadn't noticed. July in the northern hemisphere means one thing. Summer. Although Summer is amazing, it does result in significantly warmer days. This causes some issues for us... especially since we don't have air conditioning. It's not funny. We don't find humor in walking around town with butt sweat (affectionately known as 'swamp a_ _' you fill in the blanks). It's rare if apartments have ac. Most businesses and stores do, but overall it's not around. Neither is ice. That's a whole other topic that I won't get into. It makes me sad. Anyway, having no ac means that on 90 degree days our apartment turns into a cave. Imagine how sketchy the town looks when everyone has their outdoor shades down... Winter will be fun.

I've found that I sweat in places I didn't know could sweat. Adam often comes through the door looking like he ran all the way home. We've heard that it doesn't get much warmer than about 90, but I can only pray. We have a fan in each room and metal shades on each window that create a nuclear-esque bunker. Hope everyone enjoys their ac. Just look at poor Rocco. This is what he looks like during the hot days.