Finally, I got my health insurance! It took me blood, sweat and some tears...
SourceSome may remember previous articles about getting my health insurance
It has given me many sleepless nights, a lot of stress and caused me blood, sweat and tears out of frustration. I don't want to go back to all that has happened, but let me tell you in short that the government agencies really really made it difficult without any reason. It should have been arranged at least 6 months ago, actually it could have been a year, but due to similar flaws of government agencies in Holland, this was delayed. So I can't blame the Hungarian offices for that. Once I got my passport renewed, and finally (after months of waiting) received the needed documents from Holland, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong!
I've been sent back and forward many times
And it's no fun with a toddler to be sent from one office to the other (like 8 in a day including long long waiting lines). You get tired of that pretty quickly, and it has happened many times. A few months ago when my boyfriend decided it was enough, he took a Hungarian colleague with him to that office on my behalf, as I could barely walk at the time because of my back injury. Then we found out, that during this last year (until daughter turned three) I would have gotten the insurance for FREE! So if they didn't mess this up, not only would I have been insured for the past 6 months, but it would have been without any costs also. That's even a bigger bummer.
It is what it is
I can't change these things, but it gives a little nasty taste on the side, that's for sure. Now I need to pay for it, thankfully it's only pennies compared to having a Dutch health insurance. Let's say about € 21 every month. Last Friday I went to the tax office to apply for my insurance, and it was actually arranged pretty quickly. They gave me a letter to show at another office (talking about making things difficult haha) where they would be able to print my card. I went there right after the visit at the tax office, but unfortunately, my data wasn't visible in the system. She told me it would be available next week. So I thought, here we go again, coming back another day, hoping that I won't have to wait there for another two hours, and even more important, that the data is now in the system.
But this lady was actually super helpful
She told me that she didn't like to do what she was about to offer, but I'm pretty sure I've been at her desk already 5 times before, so sure she remembers me going home without any result. Therefore she told me I will call you next week when you can pick up your card. Monday morning I got the call around 9 AM, and I decided not to wait any longer, so I went there to pick up my card. I didn't have to wait in line because she told me I would have to go to her desk, and then she'd take care of it. This was such a relief for me, you won't believe how stressful all these traveling hours and visits have been, being sent back and forward. Finally it's done, I'm insured! I was the last one of us three that has everything covered. Kind of funny that it was exactly the other way around in Spain, haha. Except for the fact, that in Spain boyfriend and daughter have been using their European health insurance card instead of actually getting insured by the Spanish government.
I say: VICTORY.. Finally.. :-)