Now, this is not to open up a debate, just thought you might be interested in this little fact about the new health system.
Had to take Miss 8 to the Doctor for a Rabies shot and a little friend of hers from the village we work in as they both were bitten by a puppy while playing. Arriving at the hospital in Bangli we had forms to fill in. Filling in Balinese names is always funny especially since I had Putu and Putu. So, had to fill in the fathers names and ID numbers so the children could go under that. Waited a while and then was called to the next window, the cashier, and was told that since our Putu comes from a wealthy family (love being called wealthy) her admin fee would be 54,000, the other child would be 11,000. I asked how they knew she was from a non-wealthy family, he said that there are only 175,000 people in Bali below the poverty line and its all in the data they get from the government. Now, this stumped me as computers seem very rare when it comes to them finding our information when we need it, its always photocopy this, photocopy that. So, I said, if her family is below the poverty line then why is it not free, she said that if the family takes the receipt to the Village Head and knows that they cannot afford it then he will give them a refund or I should have brought the standard letter from the village head (I knew that but didn't think, I was just willing to pay no matter how much it cost).
Apparently this is a new system as the Governor has now announced that Balinese are wealthy and can afford to pay more for everything but does not want to penalize the few poor left, I was fascinated by it and annoyed the cashier for ages while the kids were getting a jab in each arm.
The cashier told me that the Governor has announced that they are going to provide better housing for these 175,000 people (will believe it when I see it, but great he is recognizing them). He said the Governor was concerned about the number of deaths from AIDS and rabies so did a census as some poor families did not even have birth certificates for older family members so when they died in the hospital it made admin a nightmare.
I am amazed they actually have all the poor families names in a computer for all of Bali! He said the population of Bali is 3.2 million, I said it must be more than that, he said that is not counting tourists, illegal Bules and people from other Islands that do not live permanently in Bali. He also said that if they are not from here and do have not a registered address here then they are looking at charging a lot more for those people. He said that people are going to have to register fixed address in Bali (not half time in Jakarata for example) to receive cheap medical here, otherwise they need insurance, even at the general hospitals.