rambling on about our move to new zealand
…and now forward a bit? well, actually 120 metres down and then across the street.
and i didn’t mean you, i meant the gigantic new hotel.
when new zealand was choosing a site for their new national museum (te papa - fantastic building design - great exhibits) the obvious best place was a site on the wellington waterfront. only problem was that a brand new hotel had just been completed on the site. so what to do? how about move it? full story and a movie about the move here.
medical care in new zealand is a provided by a network of public and private providers and insurers.
the primary insurer is the national government. the national plan provides deeply subsidized day to day care (a trip to the gp is about $25) and free coverage for acute (appendicitis) and chronic (arthritis requiring hip replacement) care. care is provided by private doctors and public hospitals. no surprise that there is more demand for care than the system can provide. so procedures that would likely be viewed as required by the patient (arthritis requiring hip replacement) is considered elective. the commitment from the system is to see a specialist within 6 months and within the next months either begin treatment or be told that it is not required and will not be provided. the system may seem a bit cold, but it does avoid the issues they have in other government run systems like in canada or the uk where you can be on a waiting list for ages without a sense of when (if ever) you will get treatment.
prescription meds are handled by a separate government agency, pharmac, that gets a fixed pool of money each year to buy meds for the country. any med covered by pharmac is just $5 at the pharmacy. the advantages are that you have one agency negotiating the best price and selecting the mix of meds that gives the most benefit to the most people given a fixed pool of money. the downside is if the drug you want/need is not on the list. this became a reality this year when a promising breast cancer med was not placed on the list due to its extremely high cost. adding it would have meant that a much larger pool of people would have been denied their meds. the fixed money pool dilemma. makes sense unless you are the person being told no. my experience is that in the states they just add everything - and have the budget run over. no tough decisions. deal with it tomorrow. “hey grandma - remember who gave you your cheap meds at election time”
anything related to an accident is covered by another government agency - the accident compensation corporation. they cover all medical bills, rehab and any lost wages. very comprehensive actually. and what makes it work so well is that it creates a no fault system. in exchange for being covered you have no ability to sue for damages (actual or punitive). unfortunately that means that no more full page ads in the yellow pages or late night tv adverts for personal injury lawyers. the acc covers anyone in nz including tourists.
the final piece in the puzzle is optional private health insurance by companies such as southern cross. they provide coverage for timely access to private doctors and hospitals for treatments considered elective by the national system. you can see an orthopedic surgeon and have that hip replaced in a private hospital right away. they can also provide some coverage for day to day care but that will only make sense for folks that know they won’t budget for medical expenses and need it done for them ($400 additional premium for $400 dental care coverage). the private insurance plans do not anything covered by the national plan, pharmac or acc so they are always your primary coverage.
i signed up for a plan with southern cross that provides solid coverage for the unexpected (surgery, cancer, etc.) but no day to day. my premium per paycheck (fortnightly) - $17
today is daffodil day in new zealand.
it is the biggest annual fundraiser for the cancer society of new zealand. all day almost every street corner had a crew of volunteers with their basket of daffodils and collection bucket. what was amazing was both the level of participation and the diverse cross section of both volunteers and those wearing the flowers. two men in business suits with early 1900’s straw hats working one corner - two high school students in their uniforms and wearing silly daffodil smocks on the other. a pensioner in his ancient suit, a maori tradesman in his filthy work clothes and a skateboarder with multi-coloured hair next to each other on the sidewalk and all wearing their daffodils.
just don’t think you’d see that in the states. skateboarder in the states that pins a flower to his shirt would get no shortage of grief from his mates. the kiwis just seems to be more comfortable with being themselves. my other example of this was a recent image of the an elite new zealand military unit. these are guys i am sure can carry their own - and they have the image of a kiwi bird on their sleeves. no skulls, or eagles with arrows - just a 5 lb flightless bird that they are quite proud of.
i was trying to take a picture of the daffodil i had pinned to my satchel.
i like my mistake better than what i was trying for.
our stuff is finally on it’s way to new zealand.
first a cross country trip on the rails to long beach california, then sailing on the MSC Japan, voyage 634.
thats the good news. the bad news is that after quoting us a delivery time of 40-55 days, then last week mentioning in an email that sailing times had increased to 65-75 days, the movers said today that the container was scheduled to arrive in wellington between november 22 and 26th. that’s almost 90 days. no admission or recognition that that is *way* past when then committed.
well crap. i am due to be out of my apartment mid september and won’t have a bed, chair, light or pan.
the motivation for having them pack the house in early august but not pack the container until late august was to give me enough time to get here and find a place before the container arrived. if i had known the actual sailing time required we would have had it shipped out in early august.
one thing i will never understand is how callous and unapologetic some folks can be. if they had called me as soon as they knew the new timeframe, apologies and worked with me on what could be done to minimize the impact i would have been upset but understanding. but to just dump it an email is plain wrong.
so… given the new timeline we’re shifting our focus back to looking for something to buy. the housing market has cooled off here some and the exchange rate has dropped back down from it’s dizzying heights so we’re more comfortable with looking to buy - plus we’ve got more time now to find something. i’ll look until the end of september - after that if nothing looks promising then we’ll ping-pong back to finding a rental.
ok - i get it. the visuals are stunning here.
a special contribution from our senior new england correspondent jboss today:
“Made a trip to Braintree today to drop off chemicals at Clean Harbors. It could have been an episode out of the Sopranos. You drive thru Quincy to a dirt road with no signs indicating that Clean Harbors exists anywhere. I’m expecting to find abandoned cars and dead bodies. After a bit you get to a hand painted sign that says “Clean harbors park no earlier than here”. The sign is propped up against a rusty old oil barrel. Ok, I must be on the right road. Finally, the road opens up to what looks like a shipping yard (still no signs) and a bunch of friendly guys in blue uniforms and hard hats wave me towards them. They pop the trunk, rifle thru the stuff. Send me back with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide (they said I can dump this down the drain) and they took the rest. Full trunk load was $48. Still have a small box of paint that I will give to the neighbors.”
the ministry of the environment, the local city councils and a local paint supply company have teamed up to provide a much better solution. this would have made our move quite a bit easier.
don’t know why i found this so funny.
first thing that i’ve noticed that i forgot - shoehorn
time to improv
more pictures from my wanderings.
[ed. updated - some added, some removed]
like any major city there is a an occasional battle between those on foot and those on the road - with the obvious victor. in response the wellington city council has sponsored a campaign to raise awareness through a bit of shock treatment. at most crosswalks there is now a “stop, look, live” banner painted at the kerb (similar to the uk “look right” markings) and they have painted a chalk outline of a body in road where ever there was an accident in the past five years.
they have also put a series of posters at most bus stops and flypapered all around town. the one on the left has a map of actual accident sites. the red dot over the stiff’s right kidney is in front of the apartment where i am staying.
my favourite is one featured on the side of many buses.
that will get your attention.
the campaign also includes mock accident sites staged randomly in the CBD but i haven’t seen one yet.
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