Morning Leatherboy2006,
There are over twenty in our subdivison alone. Eight or ten on the beach. Many more we don't know about. David, Volcan, and Boquette are virtually ****** ghettos with the latter two almost totally ******.
We spent two years on a beautiful beach, Playa Zancudo, in Costa Rica. Then the man we were renting from told us there was no more cheap real estate in CR. He is a land dealer. We looked at Panama with him and both families moved to Panama. He went to the mountains, we went to a small town close to the ocean (4 blocks).
Why? The United States healthcare system. I am a heart patient. My Blue Cross and Blue Shield premiums rose to $1700 monthly! Drugs cost us $700 a month! We just couldn't afford it anymore.
In Panama, Pensionados get a disquenta on all drugs. I believe the government mandate is 15%, but some farmacias give you twenty off. On top of that, the cost of the drugs are 20% to 40% off U.S. prices for the very same drugs
The Doctor here comes to my house, speaks perfect English, and charges $5. No, there are no zeros missing here.
The clinic in town gave six of us Flu shots and asked which of us could remember the last time we got a tetnus shot? We all got them. Charge: Gratis! Panamanians believe in prevention!
On different occasions, two of our friends cut off a finger tip. One went to the hospital, his charge was $1.00 (note the decdimal point). The other went to the clinic. Charge there: .50¢.
Thirty years ago I did the same thing, went to the hospital in Middletown N.Y. and the bill was close to $700. No decimals here.
If you don't buy imported items in the grocery store, food is cheap. Rice Krispies are $5.00 for 12 ozs. Crispy rice, a local product is $2.50 for the same size box and product.
Bananas are between 3¢ and 7¢ per, depending on crops. Pineapples are usually $1 each, or if they are the smaller ones 50¢.
A 1.5 litre bottle of Cabernet is $5.29. At the municipal mercado red snapper goes for $1.00 a pound. There are fishermen who live on the beach and will sell you whole tuna for .45¢ a lb.You can have a decent dinnerl for less than $5, breakfast: 2 eggs, hoalda (A type of bread), juice, coffee for between $1.50 and $2.50, depending on if you want bacon.
There are government mandated discounts for almost anything. 25% off any airline ticket purchased in Panama. Delta makes you go to their office in Panama City to get this discount! All regional airlines take it off right at the ticket counter. We get discounts on all utilities. Water comes to $5.17 a month. Electicity is $32 to $58 monthly for us. One air conditioner runs 24/7 in my computer room as does my computer and 5.5 Terrabytes of external hard drives (4).
I Almost forgot! Beer is .50¢ a bottle in a restaurant! Thirty five cents if you have it delivered by the case. It is as good or better than most beers in green bottles, with 5.0% alcohol.
The temperature is usually 85ºF everyday. We get a lot of rain starting with evening thunder showers in June, but the days are nice until Ocdtober/November when we get deluged.
There are lots of inconveniences, but the pluses outweigh the minuses 10 to 1 for us.
Note that we don't live anywhere near Panama City. We are 7 miles from Costa Rica.
Hope this answers your question.
Lonnie
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