brussels_sprout

Thanks for the warning, i have heard about the pension 250 NZD per week , isn´t it ?, and you have to live in NZ for at least 10 years.

From what i have read, NZ government has fairly high taxes, but runs a budget surplus (quite rare), ie takes in more that it spends. With very low unemployment (little social security payments), slowly increasing population of rich migrants paying quite high fees, you in NZ should have good public services ? I know there are no agricultural subsidies, little public transport, so think maybe the problem in NZ is why does the government not reduce taxes ?

Do you feel the same about the NZ government as i do about the British government ? My comparison was with continental European countries that have very good public services, i guess NZ can only compare itself to OZ. But maybe i am thinking the grass is going to to be greener, too much

sky

I've no experience of any other health system other than the uk and here in nz, and they both seem very similar except that here you have to pay for dr's appointments for yourself and your children.
Loads of patients have just recently been thrown off waiting lists here to cut down on costs, me included .. I had been waiting to have a cyst removed from my lower eye lid and got a letter saying piss off basically so I got a pair of tweezers and a mirror and operated on myself.

Apple12

Aha living in NZ has got to you - you are now operating under the "kiwi do-it-yourself ingenuity"!
Just shows that you really did not need to be clogging up in the health system though, if your GP had have done that in the first place then you would not have had to have waited. Just look after it so that you don't get an infection :scared:

lardyl

lardyl diagnoses possible Meibomian Gland Dysfunction .....I had a small procedure on one recently....
this is useful:
http://www.eye.com.ph/mgd.htm
so is:
http://www.eyebagcompany.com/
I have one of the eyebaga and it helps to shift the gunk that contributes to the cysts.....
also htis seems to be useful:
http://www.patient.co.uk/comments/23068693/
here endeth the consultation from Dr L......... :scared:

sky

I asked the dr to do it but he rang a specialist while I was sitting there and neither of them thought it was a good idea so that's why I ended up having a hospital appointment. It apparently had to be 'deroofed' or it would come back, anyways it's gone now and hasn't come back

sky

Useful links, I've saved them just in case I have any future probs thanks

mumomonty

Well done. I've no faith whatsoever in them here. I think they were a tiny bit better in the UK - they're no more than agents here really (the GPs).
The waiting lists are just as long and the just shorten them to suit themselves and massage the figures. Same ol same ol

brussels_sprout

But in NZ, if you are paying the GPs, surely you get more than the 5 mins that you get in England ? Here in Belgium, the normal consultation is 15 minutes per person and most of the cost is reimbursed

sky

I think you do yes, I still am used to uk ways though where you talk as fast as possible to tell the dr what's up with you and then are standing up and backing out of the door saying thank you very much two mins later.
Next time I go I'm going to make myself comfy and get my monies worth

mumomonty

I've been about 3 times now for trivial stuff (strep throat etc). Each time I didn't feel at all rushed and it was easy to get an appointment and the staff were very nice. You can insure here for general visits to the doc. I just have the specialist cover (in case theyrefer you for tests) and in hospital cover (private).

In Australia, you claim back visits via your Medicare card. I went a couple of times there and they referred me for every test under the sun just in case and I claimed most of it back on Medicare. My OH also had a heart palpitation scare and the doc put him straight onto heart machine, made him wear a heart halter monitor type of thing and had scans. We claimed most of that back ( a few hundred bux) There was, luckily, nothing wrong. Here and in the UK I think that they'd make you wait until you'd seen someone and that could take months of worrying ! So in my experience, Australia is far better for medical (not that that's what you asked).

brussels_sprout

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/st...ectid=10405422

I see the budget deficit is getting so large that tax cuts may be on the cards

kwprwn

yeah in 2008....

Nice Guy

To answer the original question, I did it because I foolishly thought I would get laid more often…………

danny.f

You mean that aint the case? Ah shisters. Russia it is then.

poppets

oh yeah - loads of vodka - Na zdorovia (cheers)