Counting down in Daytona!

[Stephen]

... in response to Guidelines, posted by donb2222 on Feb 26, 2003

When are you going to the Phils.  Tess and I will be there in April.

[donb2222]

... in response to Re: Guidelines, posted by Stephen on Feb 26, 2003

Hi Stephen,
 I am flying out this Monday, March 3, not sure when I am returning to the states.  Just post here, or e-mail me, it would be fun to meet

Don

[Dave H]

... in response to Counting down in Daytona! , posted by Peter Lee on Feb 26, 2003

Hi Peter,

It won't be long! ;o) Your fiancee sounds like a practical lady to me. You offered her a white wedding, so you did your part. I don't know anything about Kibawi itself, but suspect getting there could be a risk. Lots of New People's Army in da bundoks around that part of Mindanao. Davao would also be a good alternative to Cebu, if she has many family members in Kibawi that she wanted to attend the wedding.

$3.25 per P5000 ($100) ($2 + $1.25) still much cheaper than Western Union. That is what they charge with one of our ATM cards, also a $300 minimum. The other card has no minimum. Like Don mentioned...beware of the balance inquiries!!! You will get charged $3.25 every time it is checked. I have seen some ladies check in between each withdrawal to see how much more money was available. I was trying to figure out what was taking them so darn long! It can add up very quickly! The bank somehow deactivated the primary ATM card that my wife planned to use last year when she was in the PI. She was charged a service fee when it wouldn't even work. It indicated that there were not enough funds available, which really confused us. My wife tried to withdraw at several different ATM's and made balance inquiries without success. I finally was able to get the bank to find the problem and reactivate her card. It worked fine for the remainder of the trip. Not realizing she was charged for the transactions that didn't go through put the account below the $300 minimum. That caused additional service charges to be added. Fortunately, the bank refunded all of the service charges when she returned. She left the card for her family and there have been no problems since.

As Don said, the doctor visits are cheap, it's the medicine that "kills" you. ) My wife recently paid around $3 for an office visit to a very good doctor in Butuan. It won't help with your fiancee yet, but we were "told" by our insurance company to submit our medical expenses from the Philippines and they would be reimbursed. There have not been enough so far, thankfully, to make it worth while...so we will see. It's easier than trying to have doctors or hospitals call the US to get approval.

Good Luck!

Dave H.

[donb2222]

... in response to Counting down in Daytona! , posted by Peter Lee on Feb 26, 2003

Hi, glad to hear the good news.
While I was in Cebu, which is more expensive than Mindanao, every time my ex-wife and I went to the doctor it was only 100-150 pesos.  My ex-wife had a heart murmur, and the cardiologist only charged 500 pesos.  An echocardiogram was only 1000 pesos ($20). A dentist visit with x-rays and cleaning was 400-500 pesos. At those prices I took Vilma to any doctor we could think of just to take care of any problems before our trip to America.
I always asked around, and tried to find the best doctors.
The surprising part for me was that I would pay 100 pesos for a doctors visit ($2), and then the medicine would cost 2 or 3,000 pesos ($60).  I don't know how filipinos can afford to pay for medicine.

Also, don't be surprised to receive many charges for her just checking the balance on the account.  I guess it is a thrill for them to show off to their friends how much money they have access to.  You might want to advise her to not check the balance every day.
It might be a good idea to have her on a set weekly allowance, otherwise you might discover that a months worth of money is gone in just a few days.  The pressure from her friends and family to withdraw all the money at once might be too great for her to resist.  She has never had to manage money before, and you might want to set limits.
Just keep in mind that $100 is the average filipinos monthly salary, and many, many filipinos survive on that just fine.

Good Luck,

Don

[Kreeger]

... in response to Doctors in the Phils, posted by donb2222 on Feb 26, 2003

... just curious (because I am an echocardiographer), what kind of problem did Vilma have with her heart? Did you know specifically (like a defect of some kind)?

[donb2222]

... in response to Hey Don..., posted by Kreeger on Feb 26, 2003

The only thing they found was the heart murmur, and doing the echocardiogram was probably overkill.  Actually, upon our arrival in the US, my HMO (Kaiser), did an echocardiogram and found nothing.  So, the Filipino doctors were probably either being extra careful, or more likely, they wanted to stick it to the gringo.

Don