DanaJ

I would just toss the US pp if you have CR citizenship and a CR pp. But paying $2400 just to renounce your US would probably be a financial burden. Just let it go....

Eleanor, it will be interesting to see what the embassy says, I would guess that if you are still a US citizen, you may be required to keep a US passport for foreign travel. But let us know what they say.

Elenor, just hold onto the US passport, if you also have a CR one, use that if you travel to other countries. But I would ask the US embassy about this first. It may make going back to the states to visit much more difficult than its worth.

I don't buy shark myself, but I do sometimes see it in the store labled as something else than what it really is. But, on the other hand, I would prefer seeing the whole shark being used for something than just finned and thrown back into the sea to die.

They also sell Tiburon (shark), its very similar.

I just did mine, Printout the form before hand and have it all filled out. Make the appointment. Take a number as you go in. and it should take a few mintues. there is a little photo booth inside were you can get the pictures for about C2000. They will email you in about a week or so, and you just need to go in with the receipt and your old passport to pick it up. At the number dispenser, choose 'Pick up passport', no appointment for that needed for that. ps: I applied for a regular passport, but they issued one with extra pages.

If he can't pay online, then he needs someone that he can trust to pay for him. If service gets shut off, its a royal pain to get it turned back on.

Marsrox, if you look at the top of the forum page, you will see an envelope icon, that should be where your PMs are. Dana

Tom & Jan Yatsko live in Atenas, he runs Buen Pan bakery, which is for sale, if not sold already, and had his breads and sweets at the local feria, as well as at Grecia. Also at the local Coope Super. Very good sourdough bread. Will miss these things. Glad to know that Tom will get to kick back and relax now..... Dana

Just two comments Ron: The premium you pay for Medicare Part B has nothing to do with the ACA ("ObamaCAre"), but was part of the Medicare reform pushed thru by Republicans in Congress in prior administrations. By passing the Part D provisions, forcing US citizens to purchase meds in the US, they also made it illegal to buy meds from Canada, or anyplace else. Again, the Part D provisions pre-date ObamaCare. Dana

We have also had problems with a recent Skype update. Not just call problems, but freezing up, causing high CPU usage, hogging wifi bandwidth, preventing the PC from shutting down, etc...... Unfortunately, with the new update systems for programs like Skype, Firefox, Chrome, etc, you no longer have control of the upgrade, its done automatically in the background, and you cant go back without doing a system restore. So its almost impossible to go back to a previous version of a program now. Dana

i'M like Eleanor, we take the cell with us when we drive for emergencies. Same as in the US. Never really needed one there, hardly use one here. As for pay phones, they are actually getting hard to find in the US now. The phone companies have removed so many, except where they have been mandated by a city or state to have one. But Colin, there is the Tracfone option to a monthly plan, you just buy a cheap phone, buy an Airtime card, scratch off the silver and punch in the numbers into your phone, and you have xx number of minutes. No plan. Pretty easy. Use phone as a watch when you return to CR.

Our last two trips to the states we used Tracfone. Both times our old number had expired, and the remaing few minutes, so we got new phone numbers, which we promptly emailed to our local contacts. No need to keep your old numbers, just email everyone with the new ones and your set. If you have Skype, I think you can also forward calls to a cellphone.

Last time I was in the states, I bought a Tracfone at Safeway for about $9. Added another $10 in minutes. Cheap, easy, put it in a drawer when I came back here. Buy more airtime next time I go to the US. ps: Tracfone now has this: In December 2013, TracFone unveiled "Bring your own phone," which allows customers to use an unlocked CDMA and GSM phone on the TracFone network. Check thier website to see if its for you.

Actually a natural pool is a regular pool but without the water treatments. And that means that you would have to change the water frequently here or it will turn green on you. Could be quite expensive too, unless you have your own well. My BnLaw looked into a salt water pool, but for some reason decided against it. I'll have to ask him why.

Oh, they are members (informally) of the Pardy Hardy Party.

But, you know, there are these guys that hang around the park, like, they can get you some good deals. Save the airfare.

Red pill or blue pill?

Have you even bothered to go to your states ACA site to see what it would cost you? Please do so, then post what you find there.

Jeffery, you, like us and many others who have been dropped by company coverage, found that the COBRA plan was way too expensive. But without it, you end up in the gap of lapsed coverage. As to the ACA, you do know that they offer several different levels of coverage, with the Gold or Platinum plans being the most expensive. But if your state has not declined the Federal subsidies, you would even get a break on those plans. I do not know if Texas is one of the states that decided, "for the good of its citizens" to do that. If they did, then they were being really foolish just to make a political point at YOUR expense. You should take that into account in deciding where to live in the US.

Ron, there are many misatated 'facts' in your list above: 2 - Of the 30 million people, (almost 10% of the us population), most young adults of working age, but not making enough to afford private insurance, you ask how many are "illegal aliens". Well, none are because you have to be a citizen or legal resident to apply for insurance under the ACA. 3- Actually, it does stipulate how much can be charged, there are caps and limits. Go to one of the ACA sites and you can look up your rates for the Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc plans. These are capped rates. David has done a good job of addressing 4-7 8- I dont know where you get the sudden reduction to 7.5 million people. If you mean the number that have currently signed up, it also does not include those that are still signing up, and will be enrolled by the end of the year. So eventually everyone will be covered. 9- I do agree with you here, I think a so-called single payer plan, such a medicare for all, would have been much better. But then there were the insurance company lobbyist dealing on both sides, so we see what happens when money influences the power system, the people suffer as a result. Anyway, it only affects me if I plan to visit the US for more than 3 months a year. At this point I have no plans to do so. Dana

Miss Trader Joes

Are you on Facebook? There are various pages for expats in various Central & South American countries.

Yeah, I think she is right, you only need the cedula if you want a landline & DSL.

That is $600/month for all 6 of you, right? Thats not really too bad. When I left Calfi, my own insurance would have cost me well over $1000/m just for me, 1 person. That was pre ObamaCAre of course.