"Is Healthcare Really Better Abroad?" Healthcare Abroad, Making Friends, Checking In

0:00English speakers are still a novelty here. And of course, I had two cats who basically destroyed their carriers on days one and three. There's a lot of discussion to make sure that we were aligned and that we were doing it for for similar reasons. What are the visa paths? Are you running towards something or are you running away from something and then what?

0:25I can't believe we're finally here. This is Americans Abroad. Welcome to Americans Abroad. We've started a new thing where we now introduce ourselves. I'm Jen and I'm Stephanie. I live in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. And I live in Porto, Portugal. Amazing. So now that you know who we are, this weeks episode is going to be me chilling with my girl Stephanie and we're just going to talk about the issues of the day and what life is like in Mexico and in Portugal.

1:00How are you? Doing great. It's starting to get hot here, so we have like some wind noise in the background. It's 'cause I finally have the AC on. But I will tell you, I'm super grateful that it is a time of recording June and it's the first time turning on the AC, which is a very different experience from living in San Antonio, TX.

1:22Yeah, no kidding. I can't even imagine. And the World Cup is kicking off. So how is Portugal doing? Porto is in full on World Cup fever. I am also in full full on World Cup fever. I've been a football fan for decades, so I am super, super excited. Portugal plays their first game on When's Tuesday? Wednesday the 17th is Portugal's first match, so we're going to go out and watch it. And in fact, today I found out that they have set up one of those big screen fan zone things like three blocks from my apartment here in Gaia.

2:07So, my God, you're going to be able to hear it no matter where you we're going. To be able to hear it, we're already trying to figure out which of the group stage matches we want to go watch on the big screen with all of our neighbors. We have some friends, some American friends who are also football people that live maybe 5 miles from us. So they're going to come up, we'll get together and we'll go to the Phantom.

2:26But I'm super excited to be able to watch World Cup with people who are very into World Cup because that for sure always been the experience. Mexico plays their first match today at at time of recording. So what have you noticed in terms of World Cup fever down in Mexico? OK, so this is really interesting. And they're playing South Africa today in Mexico City because, you know, Mexico is a as a host destination what the US is.

2:52And so Yucatan is not a football destination. In Yucatan, they like baseball. So it's, you know, there are a lot of things about Yucatan that are very Caribbean and that is is one of them. So we have a team called the Leonas, the baseball team, and they're huge fans. And then I mean that huge fans of the Leonas.

3:16And then we have a phenomenal women's softball team that became famous because they play barefoot and in their traditional garb anyway. But I think it's really exciting now at Shadrawi, there's a huge section of FIFA merchandise cheese from And it's like all I was going through because I was like, I want to get a Mexico thing to like cheer on the team.

3:46And it was like France, Argentina and Brazil. And I finally found a Mexico hat, right? Well, but I can wear it to the US. But there was just an Argentina game at my alma mater, Auburn University. And so I got to see a ton of tick tocks of like Argentinians wandering around in rural Alabama trying to find the stadium.

4:08And then of course they're blown away because every, you know, it's an SEC school. Like it's not it's not nailing, nailing stadium, but it's no joke. So they're all blown away that these random schools and the sticks have these gargantuan stadiums. So and they did I listen, I'm not a I wasn't a football fan. I didn't go to games when I was at opera and I sat in my room and read Sylvia Plath. But they do a cool thing where they release an eagle because it's war eagles chant and eagle flies around the stadium. And then the Falconers, who are

4:42two women students, collect it. And you could just tell everybody was going nuts seeing the the eagle fly. And I thought that was really cool. One of the sides of TikTok that I have been dumped into today specifically are the teams who are playing in Mexico this week arriving into Mexico. There are videos of the South Korean team arriving in Guadalajara and doing what I can only describe as so, you know, that the Mexican, the cantaros, that the Mexican clay jugs that, like, you drink out of.

5:22Yeah, but a giant one filled with, like, tequila and agua fresca and doing basically keg stands with these, like, Mexican men are like, holding these, like, Korean boys upside down so they can bring tequila out of a straw. I'm like, this is what bringing people together. It's really all about I. Didn't go run in these temperatures. Exactly, exactly what I'm like.

5:44But when you're when you're a fit, athletic 21 year old boy, I think you can kind of get away with it. Yeah, fair enough. The Japanese team arrived. I don't know where in Mexico their first game is, but they all got like traditional Mexican hats from that region, from the governor of that Mexican state. So I'm really loving just watching these these teams arrive and, you know, very much kind of like fish out of water, but like probably much more so in Canada and Mexico than maybe they're seeing in the US.

6:13But like just how embraced and like this like exchange of cultures, you know, even in a very silly way. And I think it's one of the things that I love about World Cup the most is, you know, the rivalry is great, teams winning your favorite team winning is great. But the interplay between fans of different teams and like the connection of fans from different teams.

6:36And it's something that I, I think is, at least in my experience, uniquely football. You know, where you have your rivalry that at the end of the day, you know, you've got your your hand over their shoulder and you're, you know, cheering a beer. What whoever wins, whoever loses that there isn't this, you know, good versus bad, white hat versus Black Hat sort of thing like there is in the NBA Finals for me and the Knicks, but that less on that the the better, but I by the. Time people hear this, they will. It will be decided.

7:10Everyone will know what happened. But yeah, yeah. But no, I'm I am so excited for for this series. So yeah, we're we're planning our schedule. My my two teams. So now Portugal, my adopted team and England, my team forever and ever are playing on the same day, two different matches. So it'll be a long day for me Wednesday night.

7:30You have so much fun. I need you to be my lifestyle coach. I need help. Your cruise director. Yes, I all I want to do is work and and then when I'm not working, I'm I don't know what to do with myself and I need you to you. You should start a whole another business. That's like, here's what you should go do tonight and make people go out and experience their and they're cities.

7:57Yeah. It was one of the things, so I, I, I'm an extroverted introvert. Like when I am expected to, to be on, I, I will be on, but my battery tends to drain pretty quickly. But I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone when we moved it like like you can't just stay in your house. Like, you know, you move to this city that has public transportation and, and everything at your doorstep for a reason.

8:21So why not take advantage of it? So, you know, I possibly to you, it looks like it comes very easy to me or it's just natural, but it is like, it is a skill that I had to curate and it is getting easier. And as I, you know, make friendships and we have standing, standing appointments like every Friday we hang out with this person or every Wednesday, so and so comes to our house and we watch a movie, you know, these, these things that are repeatable.

8:47It it becomes a lot easier, but I will tell you it is getting getting out there. I think, especially as a, you know, middle-aged woman is is work, at least at the beginning. So I'm glad I make up. I don't even have repeatable stuff with my own husband. Like we really, we really struggle. So anyway, you inspire me.

9:09I love to hear about what you've done. It makes me want to do something so that on Monday when we have our our team call, I can tell you what I did over the weekend and it isn't. Yeah. The newsletter, I think, yeah, I think having a standing agreement and, and maybe this is like that first step for you and Brett, because I know Brett is very much like you.

9:31Or it's like if we could just, you know, hang at home with, with the dog and the kitties and watch a thing and do some work and cook and never see another soul, that would be fantastic. So I you're really bad about that. Double the the, the, the, the influence on the enabling on each other. I I'm sure it's, it's a challenge, but one of the things that I think really helped Dave and I, even before we moved, was having something on our calendar that was at this day, between these hours and these hours, we

10:00have to figure out something and the something isn't just hang at home does. He help you with that or do you have to do it all? I am. Still definitely the cruise director of our relationship. He's like in that he's up for whatever he is. And yeah. That is 99% of the time up for any sort of sort of adventure or if I throw, hey, I want.

10:24So like last weekend we went to Braga for the day. We hopped on the train, 40 minutes we're in Braga. So I knew I wanted to have Braga on the calendar. So I was like, so when in June, like which of these Dave Stephanie days do you want to go to Braga? So bringing him in a little bit on like the when even if it isn't, you know, planning the whole thing.

10:42But yeah, he is very much the the the passenger Princess in, in our social life. But he's also done a really good job of like, you know, getting out and and doing his own thing. I think one of the things that has helped us in terms of to find out what is out there and I am so grateful for this is we have a giant WhatsApp group called Porto people that somebody invited me to after. It was after I went to like a little crafters meet up and they said, are you in the, the Porto WhatsApp group? And I was like, I have no idea.

11:17Like I'll add you. And then there's all these subgroups. So there's like the LGBT group, there's the the foodies group, there's the laudable libations for the drinkers, there's the folks who like to go hiking, which I am not in that group, never will be in all those groups. Yeah, cinephiles, all of these things. And so you can kind of find your, your kind of curated tribe.

11:40And so that's been really helpful in terms of seeing, you know, who I like virtually or when somebody's like, hey, we're going to go do a lunch. I made a reservation for 10 people who wants to join us and just being able to just go, cool. I, I don't have to organize it. I will just pop in and participate.

11:59I also wonder too, if a little bit of the, the frequency in terms of me doing stuff is not only the concerted effort, but the fact that Porto is doesn't have to be a driving city. And so it feels much easier to walk 10 minutes or look, I just got to get on the metro. I don't have to stress about where am I going to park and is traffic going to be bad And, you know, all these other things that I think kept me at home back in the States, I can just be like, I just need to walk out

12:28my door and and hop on a metro. There's that. It takes the excuse away of the actual logistics. Yeah. Well, we're so focused on growing this business and I actually wanted to talk about some of the things that we have coming up. So, you know, we finished the conference. God knows, I know we beat it to death.

12:46It drives everybody crazy. Thankfully it's just once a year for like like 6 weeks. The thing is like you have somebody who hears us talk about it 422 times and then the whole rest of the world never hears it. And so you're constantly having to like repeat yourself to try to get, you know, the word out. But so a couple of the initiatives that we are launching this summer, one is our affiliate program. So if you don't know what an affiliate is, it's just means that.

13:22So like if somebody were to make a TikTok video and say, hey, I went on the Portugal trip, you should go on the Portugal trip too, Here's my code. Then if you come in and you go, oh, I fell it's interesting. And you click it and you book a trip. Then we go back and pay that person a referral fee. And it is super beneficial.

13:46It's how I built Expatsi to begin with. So when I first started, I would find partners who I trusted. You know, I don't, I'm not just random people, but who I trusted. And then when someone came to me and said I need help moving to Spain, I would say, OK, you can talk to these people and I will earn a referral fee.

14:07And that's how I started to build my business. Well, there are two aspects to this. One is that Expatsi inherently is a network of people, right? And by the way, if people are listening to this and don't know, Expatsi is my business, Stephanie works with me. And Americans abroad is something else we do. They're all friends, they're all sisters in the same family.

14:34And so first of all, we need more people who are having conversations because Stephanie and I can't have all the conversations. You know, there, there's data that shows that one in three Americans is thinking of moving abroad, which is like 130 million people. And we only have so much time to answer DMS on Instagram. So it allows us to have more people having those conversations, but it also means that those people now have that digital nomad job. So a big thing that holds people up, not necessarily retirees or people who already have their

15:11own business or people who have remote work, but a lot of people don't have remote work. And so they can't go. So if that's you and you're interested, you can start your own business helping other people move abroad and that's it. That's all there is to it. It's not like there's a fee or you're not going to have a down line. No, you just, we have a page for it. It's expatsy.com/affiliate and Ron will put it in the notes or whatever.

15:46But then Stephanie made a big training program so you know how to do it. It listen, it's not going to be right for everyone. Some people are entrepreneurial and some people aren't. But if it is right for you, it's out there. I think it is a great option for people to start their digital nomad businesses, but it's also a great add on for people who are like Realtors or financial planners or travel agents because those are the folks you know, when you're in a situation where you want a change, when you need a big transition and you want to talk to someone you

16:17trust, you might call your friend who's a realtor and say, I want to sell my house from runaway to Greece. And right now your realtor could just go, OK, I'll sell your house and that's it. But if your Realtor worked with us, they could say, hey, I'll sell your house and I can help you get your visa in Greece. So I think it it is a natural affiliate. And Speaking of houses, yeah, Brett is taking his real estate exam in one week from today, and after that we'll be launching Expatsi Homes.

16:51Do you want to explain a little bit about how this will work? Yeah, absolutely. So we know that the one thing that I think everybody moving abroad has in common is they need a place to live in their new country. And that can be a a big challenge for a few reasons. Number one, you know, yes, we have all of these these partners who can assist with the legal side of being able to stay in the country. But in a lot of cases, folks are on their own to figure out well, who can help them navigate not

17:26only finding something, but the the the the customs and just how things are done in other countries when it comes to housing. Unregulated it is, yeah. There, there are dozens upon dozens of countries where you don't have to take a real estate test like I did or like Brett's about to do. There is no licensing board like I have for my license and like Brett will have for his.

17:51It is just cool you want to help. It's it's like setting up a lemonade stand. It is. It is exactly the same amount of regulations as setting up a lemonade stand. So maybe less because in the US, you know, they're constantly budgeting. Asking for for food and bed permits from the health department. So you know, having having someone that our folks can trust when it comes for this thing that again, that everybody is going to need. Just in the way that we have developed these trusted partners for the legal side and how to ship your goods and what paperwork you need to take your

18:26your pet to the new country. This big piece of the puzzle that is universal for everybody, which is housing. So helping them find rentals and help helping them find something to purchase depending on, you know, what they're they're looking to do at the time. Also being able to connect our audience with trusted agents here in the US If they need to sell their home here, you know, we know that, you know, for, for better or for worse, doing something like this is political. You know, we, we saw that 98% of people who took the Expatsi test want to move abroad because

19:04of the current US political climate. So also finding real estate agents who are a little bit sympathetic, who are understanding that many times our folks are working under a tight timeline. There's all these moving parts that come into play and the emotions behind packing up your stuff and leaving probably the only country that you have known and going someplace new is very loaded. So people who get our mission, who get what we're, what we're looking to do and understand our customer, I think is really, really important.

19:39So from beginning to end, being able to connect you up with real estate professionals in the US, real estate professionals in your new home country so that it is a seamless process for our audience. It's amazing. And by the way, Brett is getting his license in the US. So we're flying up to the ham Birmingham next week and we're going to, he's going to take his test there.

20:04We're going to visit family and. And it'll be fun things like that. Eat hot chicken. Yeah. All the things that you can't get in the US or is there anything that you're going to like buy to stock up on to bring back to Mexico? You know, I always have to get some gum I chew. This is not an ad, but I chew Orbit Sweet mint gum and and I'm fully addicted to it and. I'm well aware because half of a checked suitcase, like a giant checked suitcase.

20:32When I came down there in September, 29 lbs of my 60 LB limit was Orbitz gum for Jen. I'm such a fan. And when we first got down here, it was at the gas stations and I was so excited. And then we realized that it was at the gas stations, but they weren't restocking. So I actually have a map, a Google map called Gum, and it's all the gas stations I've already hit.

20:59And you say you don't. Get out and do anything. There you go, a mission. So when we get back, I am, I am having a little freshening, a little procedure. I'm very excited about it. Yourself. Yourself. Care that you are doing you. You told me a little bit about it, but share with share with the class what you were doing. OK.

21:28And I'm going to make videos. I'm not going to like obviously I'm not going to hide it or anything like that, but I have wanted to get a neck lift and a little bit of a facelift and I will. Some people say you're scared, blah, blah, blah. It looks OK. And first of all, I have a light on my face so it always looks better than it does in real life.

21:52But it is, it's just something like it's not the end of the world. I, you know, I didn't get it done. I'd live also, but I really would like to have it done. And so I found a doctor here. I love him. He has he he has Rebel Alliance memorabilia in his office. So I feel like I can trust him.

22:16He he has a man. I think he has a Mandalorian helmet. Amazing. Yeah. And then other like Jedi stuff Anyway. So I'm going to have a deep plain neck lift. And then I'm having what's called Max Macs. And what that means is it's just a very superficial facelift. And so because of that, it'll be scars behind my ears, which is helpful.

22:49And then because mostly it's in front of your ears. And I'm not, I just don't have that kind of recovery time at the moment. And I also don't think I need the whole kit and kaboodle. Yeah, I don't need it. You know the Joan Rivers. Take you out, Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So and then they're going to in a little upper bluff here. I'll get close to my camera.

23:11See. You see, I think I've always just had kind of hooded eyes. And then they're going to do some fat transfer. So I guess we'll take some from down here or something and kind of put it here and under my eyes and in my lips and in my chin. And I found my doctor. Let me film him. Listen, this is a generalization. I'm going to say all Mexicans, they are all ready to be on camera.

23:36Like you asked someone to be on camera and it is like, I mean, I said, hey, do you mind being on camera? I've never heard no, but it's not just yes, it is yes. And then the performance of a lifetime. I don't know if everyone has to be in plays growing up. I have no idea where Oh, the telenovelas.

23:57I'm right. So he's it's just like today Jen is going to have and he just like runs down every single thing, nails it first try out of the gate. It just every time they make you look like rank amateurs. But so I don't know, maybe. And then I'm going to have my moles taken off, which this was a big thing because I've had, you know, this one is always significant to me, but I but it keeps getting bigger. So I think what I'm going to do is have it removed and then I'm going to get a little tattoo

24:30where it was so that I still have the beauty mark, but it's whatever. Yeah. And then I'm going to do CO2 laser. But it turns out it's not. He doesn't do the. There's the CO2 laser where they, I mean, they take you down to Skeletor and he doesn't do that. He does the fractional laser where you do it in three treatments. And I can't do it during the surgery. I have to do it after.

25:00So, but I think that's probably for the best. You know, your whole face, you know, comes off and it can be at risk for infection and stuff too. And I am in the tropics during the rainy season, so, you know, stuff is flying around all the time. So anyway, I'm very, very excited. I am hopeful that it will be absolutely unnoticeable that I will just look like I have a filter on.

25:25Yeah. And we'll. But listen, whatever it turns out to be is what I'm what I'm going. To be that's what that's what you are yeah. No, I'm so excited for you. And you know, I, I mean, at the end of the day, it is gender affirming care and we here at Expatsy are all about gender affirming care and. Of course.

25:45You know, I as as someone who, you know, can teenager into early 20s heavily modded people in in Austin. That's where like half of the Jim Rose circus sideshow. If you're not Gen. X, you have no idea what I'm about to talk about. But do you remember the the Jim Rose Circus sideshow, Jen? Even now I have a encounter in the wild with Enigma. OK, yeah, cuz.

26:11So Enigma lived in Austin. His wife Katzen lived in Austin. They used to come into the bar that I worked at. I worked with the amazing Mr. Lifto. He was my bar manager at the bar that I that I worked at. How did? He lift the glasses. Yeah, cuz he and El Camino on E 6th St. in Austin shout out to y'all. But yeah like I worked with Lifto enigma. You know they so and these were just like these are just a friend.

26:37So, you know, if, if we can be permissive about your tattoos and your piercings and all of that, then like, you know, whatever makes somebody like feel good and we only get one body in this life. So, you know, whatever you want to do, it ain't hurting somebody else. Like who it is. Nobody's nobody's business. So I am I appreciate that you get to do this for yourself.

26:57I. Thank you. I'm very excited too. And I have a big milestone birthday coming up this summer. I'll be 55 and so and and we're doing a team retreat in Portugal in September, so I should be healed by then and we can maybe get some photos and and stuff like that to celebrate. Yeah, I need to mention the price, by the way. I was asking, I was on a live and I was talking about it and I said, guess how much it is?

27:24Everyone was guessing $3000. And I was like, OK, you're out of touch. I can't, I can't even have this conversation with y'all in the US. It depends. Like the minimum it would be is probably $25,000. But I saw one doctor, he's hundreds of thousands in like Kansas City. It's not Beverly Hills or something, but mine is going to be $8000 all in. So we get, we get the health care question all the time and, and there's an example of elective healthcare and, and how that's different.

27:57Yeah, and that includes an overnight stay in the Super fancy nice hospital so I don't have to come home and, you know, white knuckle through it and things like that. And then I also, I'm going to go this weekend and check out a hyperbaric chamber company. So you go in there and they like super oxygenize you and it supposedly makes you heal faster. So if it's affordable, my plan is to do that because, you know, faster healing is helpful for, well, all the reasons. Yeah, for sure.

28:34How exciting. So do you have a like what you're going to be watching on TV as you recover? Because anytime I'm like sick or have a medical thing, I'm like, oh, what do I get to binge watch? Have you been binge watching anything Jen? Oh my God, yes. And I'm obsessed. OK. I am. And I know you haven't watched it yet, and you have to or I will die. It's called Widows.

28:59It's called Widows Bay. It's on Apple. I'm sure a lot of people have heard of it since it's on Apple. It stars Matthew Rhys, you know, the guy from the Americans and Brothers and Sisters. And he also did Perry Mason. Did you? I don't know if you saw that. Perry Mason or the Bible. Yes, yes, Yeah. I think that was him. And then Stephen Root is in it.

29:24And then there are some brilliant character actors who are underused, in my opinion, right now. But one is, I don't know if you ever watched Somebody Somewhere, it is also brilliant. And there's Skynet, who's the funniest character actor anyway, he's in it. And then another character actor I've never seen before. Her name I think is Patricia on the show.

29:47She's freaking hilarious. But it is a horror comedy noir. I don't even know how to describe it, but it is so entertaining. And I can tell you, we are we. We only have one more episode to go, but my plan is to go back and watch it all again. Because as you get through the series, you realize that there are all sorts of little nods and Easter eggs and things all through it.

30:20And so I want to go back and watch it with a more careful off my phone and a more careful eye. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? So we are halfway through the last season of Hacks. We're we're trying not to binge it and it's such an easy show to binge because they're only half hour episodes. So we're we're trying to just do like 1 every three days instead of me just wanting to watch the whole season.

30:46Harm it is hard is the season is so good, so ridiculously fantastic. Have you gotten to the episode with who's the girl from White Lotus who's married to God? This is such. I'm sure my age. Yeah, the girl from White Lotus with the C word Little Bob, and she's married to the guy who dances in Charlie's Angels.

31:23I can't with you right now. Sam. His name is Sam, and he dances in Charlie's Angels. I'm just, I'm going to. Give it a Google. Yeah, her name. I think it starts with an well guy who dances in Charlie's Angels. Oh, you mean Sam? Rockwell. OK, Right. Yes. And he is married to Rockwell wife Leslie Bibb, I think. Yes.

31:57Leslie Bibb Yes, yes. Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about from last season of White Lotus, Yes. OK, but you have not gotten to the episode. I don't think I have, no. I don't remember seeing her. On you'll know, You'll know. OK, And then there's the other person in the episode is the woman who plays the media mogul in succession for the competing fan.

32:20Gotcha, gotcha. Anyway, very good, yeah. So we're yeah, we're we're almost, I think if if that episode is halfway, yeah, cuz let's see that appears in episode 7 and we are on episode we just finished five and so we'll watch 6 tonight. So right around the corner. But it is. You're doing good to parcel it out. It's a good idea because it is.

32:42It's just such a, it's Brett had a really astute observation, which is the reason, part of the reason it's so good is because it's the first season where they don't, where Ava and Deborah don't fight the whole season. And, you know, the, the arc of most of the seasons is they hate each other and then they come around to loving each other by the end.

33:09And it's frustrating because they're so much better working together. Yeah, in this season, the enemies are outside the gates. And I think that that made it better. Now I can see why they needed to have internal conflict, but I, I really do think it, it's better. And that The funny thing is, the first season I did not like Meg Stalter at all. She was too chaotic for me.

33:38I was just, oh, it made me. She made me so tense and angry because she was just wilfully screwing stuff up. And because under her dad's company too. So it was like oh OK, another nepo baby getting paid to do nothing just because daddy owns the company. Yeah, and crazy. And now that I have trust that even when she does crazy stuff, it's going to work out.

34:03And also I love the relationship that she and Paul have outside of the show. And so now I have because before I was just like, constantly afraid. And I think that probably speaks to my own fear of, you know, I'm trying so hard to be successful and my fear of chaos, a chaotic element I can't control, screwing it up.

34:28I mean, listen, I'm projecting the hell out of it on that on that show. And now Deborah is my dream. Not necessarily being, you know, as wealthy as Deborah, but boy, she really, you really start to realize how much she lives her life on her own terms. And especially when she stops being mean to the people around her like she is in the season, I started to admire her a lot more.

34:51Yeah, Marcus is my dream. That's who I want to be when I grow up from Hex. Really. Yes, I, I want to be able to take an, an incubation of something. I want to take somebody's QVC channel and funnel it off into a franchise and then buy a hotel to turn into a boutique. This is why we work together perfectly. Oh, my God.

35:11Oh, the dream. The dream. Yeah. OK, so I mean, listen, that makes us the core. I started to say who else do we need? But it's like nobody, you know, we. Need to create an internal Expatsi quiz. Which hacks character are you? Because I, I think, you know, we, we have some folks that do have like a little bit of Kayla in the good way of like, let's throw out this wild idea and let's just you know, see, see where it goes and you know, hopefully pick somebody picks up on the passion. I'm trying to remember the name

35:44of of Paul and Kayla's assistant there at the. Oh, right. Robbie Hoffman. This place is Robbie Hoffman. Yes. Yeah, I can't remember her character's name, but we, we, I know we have folks. And I think we all have like the all of these like little, little traits. Sure, but. Yeah, it's, I think that's why, I think that's why we are, the company works well together.

36:05Our our scrappy little team works together because we always bring something a little different. We fill in the gaps that other people have. Jen, do you know what time it is? Do you see me dancing? It is that time. OK, listen, I wrote a song and I wanted to do something that was a nod to our upbringing, OK? And you know, had that kind of 80s vibe, early 90s. OK, here's how it goes.

36:47This is the chorus. Now, I don't have all the verses lined out because I didn't Google it, but here is the chorus. OK, it goes. Roam if you want to roam around the world, roam if you want to. You will probably need wings. You'll definitely need wheels. Perfect. Thank you. Kate Pearson, eat your heart out. I have AI saw a question come in that I want to pose to you, especially because you talked about your procedure coming up.

37:27And so we we touched a little bit on healthcare. So, so the question we received is everyone online says Healthcare is better and cheaper abroad. Is that really true, or are there trade-offs that nobody talks about? So that's a good question. I only have my experience and other people I've talked to and there is one trade off and that is just to me is learning the system and sort of taking the bull by the horns, which to be fair is, you know, it exists in the US as well, right?

38:06You know, trying to find a primary care physician. So think about how you find A and and I'll be curious how you did it. But yeah, so I would, I had Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, right, always. And so you'd go to the Blue Cross Blue Shield site, you would do find a physician. You would look up primary care.

38:24You would look, if you were interested in having someone as a woman at certain different hospitals, whatever, and make a list and you would call to make an appointment and then they would tell you they're not accepting new patients. And you would do that however many times. And then you would find somebody who was accepting patients, but they're first available was in six weeks or whatever.

38:48And so you kind of end up just settling for whoever the hell you get and and going from there. And I had, you know, good experiences, bad experiences, you know, it's a process. But then from there, you don't really, you know, everyone talks about you pick your doctors, all that stuff and how important that is to everybody who hated Obamacare or whatever. Yeah.

39:13But but the truth is, really, once you get your primary care physician, you usually don't pick your doctors After that. You always need a referral and then you go through that process. And so it's not like there isn't any red tape to getting healthcare in the US. And, you know, famously I had a condition that took decades to even get someone to listen to me talk about in the US when I finally realized and I said, listen, I have got to talk to an endocrinologist about it. And I demanded and finally they let me. And it took nine months to get

39:52an appointment and you know, it's just terrible. And even after that they were like, OK, well here's a drug. OK, I'll take the drug. That was it. Then when I came here and I went to see an endocrinologist just to like get re upped on the drug, they said, well, let's talk about this. And they actually got to the literal root cause of what was going on.

40:15And it isn't something curable, but it is manageable. And more than anything it is the truth. And so now I know. So I have this answer, but because you can pick your own specialist, because you can go to any facility, because it's all affordable, you actually then have to kind of do the legwork. So in the US you're just going to go where you're allowed to go. It's so funny because people think it's the opposite, right? People think in the US you have all this choice and it is, you know, like shopping in a mall

40:53and you like, you're going to go try 15 different doctors and I guess maybe some people do. But in reality you're going to get in, put in one slot of whatever you can afford and then that's going to direct you everywhere else. And I have noticed that the quality of healthcare you get in the US is very dependent on how hard you fight for it.

41:17So, you know, my ex-husband was a union pipe fitter, and he was not great about his healthcare. And so when I started to go to the doctor with him, he was treated completely differently because they started because I was advocating for his care. I was like, listen, this blood pressure, He's not. He can't be walking around with this blood pressure.

41:39And they were like, oh, well, yeah, OK, we can take care of it. But because they were used to people who didn't advocate for themselves, they let them just live on these margins. Yeah. And that that exists here because there's a public and a private system, of course, and I'm sure that there are challenges, But if someone who accesses the private system, the biggest challenge I have is just taking the bull by the horns.

42:04Great news. That's my specialty. So it works well for me. Now, if you are someone who is incredibly passive and you want someone to do it for you, you can have that. And what exists are these concierge groups? And so you pay. I don't know how much it is. Let's say it's 80 bucks a month to the concierge service. And then whenever you need care, instead of doing what I do, which is go through the Doctor Alia app and research every single person and and match them up, you can go to the concierge. Now for the facelet that I was

42:41mentioning, I researched, I looked at every single website, read all the reviews, all that sort of thing. I looked at all their Instagrams, looked at their before and afters, and ultimately I had one on ones with two physicians and one of them I just felt the vibes were Immaculate and I decided to go with them. I did look at there are celebrity facelift doctors in Mexico, without a doubt. They, of course, I did.

43:09There's one in a few in Guadalajara, a few in Tijuana. And I did kind of look at that route and in Cancun, and I realized that probably what I needed more than anything was to be able to recuperate at home. Yeah, yeah. You know, you know yourself better than anybody else ever could. Yeah, and this is what I'm having done is fairly routine. It's not like I'm, you know, trying to have some super complex, yeah, $300,000 thing.

43:43They're going to lift my face up a little. Yeah, yeah. I haven't had a chance to navigate the Portugal system yet. It for me it is like the how do I, you know, how is it different? What do I do now? This is the one, the one thing that my partner that Dave is take the bull by the horns. Like he's like, I'll walk into one of the hospitals and just go, how do I do this?

44:07Like he like when it comes to that, he's really, really good at it. So I'm going to let him kind of be my Canary. And when it? Comes to that but you know just talking about medical care in other in other countries and you know one of the things that I see a lot on social media from the naysayers and we're like I'm going to move to another country and Healthcare is so much more affordable yeah but you're going to wait nine months to you know for your broken. Leg when they all think that.

44:35When I was trying to move to the UK and I was, I was staying in the Uki didn't have residency, so I wasn't, you know, I was still there like as a tourist. I had a cyst that ruptured on one of my ovaries. I was in excruciating pain. You know, I'm for all intents and purposes by myself.

44:53I'm in my early 20s with a bunch of early 20s folks. So that like I, I could have used an adult at that point. So a friend of mine took me to the hospital. I'm like, well, what are they going to do for me? I don't know how I'm going to pay for it. I don't have insurance here. I didn't even have insurance back home. And like, they're like, oh, what are you talking about? So they took me, they gave me the pain meds. They did like ultrasound and everything to make sure that it would just kind of work itself

45:18out on its own. And as someone with no insurance, not on the public system the way that they were just like, we just need to make sure that you're going to be OK and not just baseline. You're not bleeding from your eyeballs. Let's push it back out on the street and you deal with it on your own.

45:35They even were like. And then we want you to come back next week to make sure that this cyst is, you know, dissolving the way that it needs to. And if, and again, I didn't have to wait not nine months for this like pain in my in my ovary to like to go away. They, they took me into into A and EI was placing within 1520 minutes. And so if that is any indication of what care can be like in another country for, again, someone who isn't a citizen or a resident didn't have money to

46:10pay out of pocket of, you know, to buy their way out of the situation, I think it speaks volumes for how different care is in the US than it is in other countries. Do you watch the Pit? No, but I've heard good things about it. I mean, listen, it's a it's a medical procedural, of course. And I think that the reason people like it is it's young people.

46:33Ron loves it, I think. OK, so Ron, I don't want to tell me if you disagree, but I think mostly it has to do with, you know, the kids yearn for medical procedurals because they just don't have that. We've had so much prestige television that it's kind of like a return to that comfort. And it is really good. Like it is really good, but if you go into any Reddit threat about the pit, it is just international folks asking if that's really what Healthcare is like in the US because they can't, they cannot believe it.

47:09And then all the healthcare professionals are like, it's pretty spot like their point is, yeah, all these things wouldn't happen on the same day, right? That's the that's the convention of the show. But all of these things absolutely do happen exactly as portrayed. And it's it's it's just something crazy to keep in mind is Speaking of Canaries and coal mines.

47:36It is it is such an early indicator of how bad things are in the US in the past week. And then I will leave it at this, but I have watched police raid. A raid is a strong term, but police be sent to the American Psychiatric Association to arrest people if they attended a talk, and to the American Diabetic Association to arrest people who were passing out published journal articles.

48:15And I can tell you that ain't going on nowhere. Well, if you want your. Move abroad questions answered here on the podcast. You can e-mail us at podcast at expatsy.com. Americans Abroad is an Expatsi production. Please like, share, subscribe and leave a review. Are you thinking about moving abroad? Start with our quiz at expatsy.com. That's expatsi.com.