Thomas Hunt Died

Thomas Hunt, the old American who had the bad fortune of becoming desperately ill and penniless in The Philippines at the same time died last night.

Unfortunately, this was really an inevitable thing: The efforts of The Expatriates' Ladies Group and other friends were never going to be enough. The help that Mr. Hunt needed was thousands of miles — and tens of thousands of dollars — away.

Could better planning have saved Mr. Hunt? Let's take a lesson from this and say "yes" with certainty... even if we might think or find otherwise. Expatriates everywhere need to plan for this type of thing: As demonstrated by this sad affair, The American Government will not help you, and (from the archives of discussions about the efforts to save this man) getting a trip back to The United States in an "ambulance plane" is only possible if you have $150,000 in your pocket.

Keep it in mind.

That reminds me: Blue Cross Philippines has health insurance for less than $2,000 per year. Check out the "Select Access" version, and chose "no discounts". It wants to charge Epril and me 90,000 pisos per year for what seems to be full coverage with no deductible or limitation on location.