Random Costa Rica related

I recently saw this video interview of Bill Maher by Olbermann where Maher explains why he is criticizing Obama. Basically it is because Obama is not socialist enough. Specifically he criticized Obama's statement that he was not out to install a government health care system. Maher said "... why not, maybe our health care situation in this country would be as good as Costa Rica's or Morocco's" (at about 4:00 into the video). I cannot comment on Morocco, but as good as Costa Rica's government system, what a nightmare. If you read Spanish just go to La Nacíon and search for "Caja". This is the public health system. It is a nightmare. From dozens of people dieing at the San Juan de Dios hospital from a bacterial infection that occurred because of bad procedures, to critical medicines not being purchased because of the bureaucratic routine, to medicines going bad because the same routine and poor storage, to bribery scandals large (millions of dollars in useless equipment bought) and small (paying the administrators to schedule people out of turn), to being given appointments to see a specialist in five (not a typo) years, and on and on. This is just what is public. Anyone who knows a few working class Costa Ricans has heard plenty of direct horror stories. A typical one, which I have heard more than once, is the patient being scheduled for priority surgery months out and either arriving on the day and being told that some critical component (drugs, the doctor, etc) was missing, or the person simply dieing before the appointment date. But you can get Viagra for free. The courts have ordered the Caja to provide Viagra to those who need it. Silliness like this abounds.

The state system is a mess. It is also very expensive. The Caja deducts 32% of each employee's salary (9% employee, 23% employer).

This is not to say that some parts of it are not OK. If you live in an upper middle class area, as most expats do, the local clinics are quite good. Probably because most of the people in those areas do not use them, so they have more than enough resources. Then again, it is a government, therefore political, institution. So it makes sense that the clinics located in areas where the people have some clout will be the better ones.

Costa Rica has very good health care. Private. Whatever the mess with health care is in the US I am sure it is better than the state system here.

However, this country does have some bright spots. A few days ago on TV I saw the finance minister appearing before Congress. He said that because tax revenues were down 17%, the government had to cut spending and proposed 20% worth of cuts. They have already done things like close consulates and embassies. Wow. Cutting spending when revenues are down, what an amazing concept. Of course many people are howling about this, and we will have to see what actually happens. Still, very encouraging.

Additionally, it seems that the police dragnets that were so popular for several months have faded away. I do not know if this is due to lack of funds, or if it is the standard cycle of things here. Often the government will implement a new policy all out for a while, but then it runs out of steam and things return to the normal half hearted implementation of before. This recently happened with the new customs system, where for a while every package was opened and most were taxed, to now maybe 1 in 10 being opened, and almost none taxed.

And finally, the traffic restriction policy that has been in place for about 18 months in San Jose has been rule unconstitutional by the courts. This means that anyone can now drive into the capitol at any time, which has returned the city to massive multi-hour traffic jams. Of course, the government will not respond to the consumer demand for more and better roads. So we can expect San Jose traffic to be a mess for a while. Chaos, "estado de derecho" style.