Egypt + Third World Travel

I’ve been back from Egypt for a couple of months now, but I’m just now posting some thoughts. Overall the trip was amazing. The country as a whole is more “third world” than I expected it to be. In comparison, Egypt is neither as wealthy as, nor as poor as India. The median standard of living also seems to be higher in Egypt than in India. The Egyptian pyramids and temples are all as amazing as you’d expect – and sometimes more, given the times in which they were built.

Third world travel is tough. Things just don’t work the same way they do in the States. No matter what you do, or how you dress, you stick out like a sore thumb. Because of who you are, you are treated differently. A lot of times, this is in a bad way. You are sought out by locals looking for money – by either trying to sell you something, or by just sticking out their hand and begging. Because there are so many of these people, as soon as you give in to one, you can be surrounded by others looking for their sale or handout too. It can get so bad that it feels like all you can do is to run away from the crowd.

Sticking out like a sore thumb has its advantages too though. Outside of major transportation sites (airports), security measures don’t generally apply to you. Where any other local is stopped and questioned intently before being allowed through (if at all), the color of your skin allows free passage without question, and without even the need to stop.

Because you’re an American, people assume you’re made of money. There are different prices for you, apparently because you can afford it. After leaving an Egyptian temple, we tried to buy 12-oz cans of Coke. We were told the price was 25 Egyptian Pounds for each drink, which translated into roughly $5. When we left without buying anything, the store owner was honestly surprised. He then started negotiating as we walked away, but it was too late.

Negotiating the price of everything is a way of life in these countries. It is the local’s job to extort the most amount of money possible from you in each sale. As tourists, it is your job not to get screwed. This task is actually much more difficult than you’d expect, even for an experienced traveler. You’re on their home turf, you’re trying to convert the foreign currency to your own for comparison, and you don’t always know what’s reasonable to pay for something anyways. On the other hand, the locals are expert salesmen (con artists), they don’t let you walk away easily, and they pull on your heart strings about their own poverty to close the deal. Some tourists enjoy the challenge of negotiating. My brother will take great pride over negotiating an extra 50 cents of the price of a $4 item. Personally, I pay whatever I’m comfortable with. To the chagrin of my brother (liberal), I (conservative) rarely negotiate as hard as I could, and always pay a little more than I maybe should. I guess you could call it my own personal form of wealth re-distribution. Ironic, huh?

As different as things are in third world countries from the United States, I still love traveling there. You get a perspective on life that would otherwise not even be possible to experience, and you are reminded that life in the United States is the exception to the rule. We really are different. Very different. It’s humbling to be reminded how good we have it here.

Healthcare Insurance Fail

Maybe I’m a little slow on the uptake about healthcare insurance, but thankfully I’ve been relatively free of health issues for quite some time. That being said…

I had an ultrasound on my thyroid about a month ago (everything’s fine btw…that’s not the point here). Eventually I got a bill from the hospital. The hospital bill was for ~$800, and it showed that insurance was responsible for ~$600, leaving the remaining ~$200 for me to pay out of pocket.

So, I call my health insurance just to see what’s up, because like you, I love getting unexpected bills for $200.

After talking with the rep, I find out the deal:

The hospital sets an arbitrary price ($800).

The insurance company negotiates how much the procedure actually costs, and claims they “paid” the difference ($600), but no money changes hands.

I get stuck with the bill ($200) as part of my “deductible” – the only cash the hospital actually receives for the procedure.

Here I thought the money I spent on health insurance actually went to paying medical costs. I can’t possibly imagine how much debt you would rack up if you had medical issues while being uninsured.

Health insurance is a scam. Here’s an idea – hospitals charge the end game amount up front, and I’ll set up a pre-tax health care savings account (unless Obama wants to tax that too…). Then I’ll just pay for all health care expenses from the health care savings account. Add in a small “in case of cancer” insurance policy, and we’ll call it a day. Is that too much to ask?