Wednesday, August 10, 2011

ZUS

After two Exchange conversations, Joan and I went to the ZUS office to turn in our quarterly paperwork for national health insurance. We are required to do this because every quarter the cost changes, sometimes up and sometimes down.  This time it was up.  However it only went up 8 zl for the next three months.

In the beginning of our life in Poland it was a little more difficult for us to do the paperwork because we had to try to understand what the clerk was telling us and what the change in price was.  Since that time they have computerized and now we can find out the cost prior to our visit and fill out the paperwork.  When we arrive we just take a number, wait our turn for our number to appear on the screen and then enter the right cubicle.  It's a simple matter of turning over the completed forms, waiting for the clerk to enter them into the computer and then we are done.  Aside from waiting for our number, the process takes about 10 minutes.  This is much quicker than it was in 2007.

By the time we were done it was time for our weekly meeting at Kandulski's with Zbyszek so we drove there.  During our conversation he told us the whole story about the state run farms in the old regime, the little private garden plots in Pozna艅 and a little more about the political system.  He is, of course, our Polish teacher but he is also a wealth of information about Poland and I like that very much.

Po dw贸ch Exchange rozmowy, Joan i poszed艂em do ZUS biurze kolei w naszym kwartalniku dokument贸w dla ubezpiecze艅 zdrowotnych. Jeste艣my zobowi膮zani do tego, poniewa偶 w ka偶dym kwartale zmian koszt贸w, a czasem nawet i czasami w d贸艂. Tym razem by艂o si臋. Jednak to tylko uda艂 si臋 8 z艂 na nast臋pne trzy miesi膮ce.

Na pocz膮tku naszego 偶ycia w Polska to troch臋 trudniejsze do zrobienia formalno艣ci, bo musieli艣my spr贸bowa膰 zrozumie膰, co urz臋dnik m贸wi艂 nam, co i zmiany cen. Od tego czasu maj膮 one skomputeryzowane i teraz mo偶emy pozna膰 koszt przed nasz膮 wizyt膮 i wype艂ni膰 dokumenty. Kiedy docieramy po prostu wzi膮膰 numer, poczeka膰 na swoj膮 kolej na nasz numer pojawia膰 si臋 na ekranie a nast臋pnie wprowadzi膰 prawo kabina. Jest to prosta sprawa przewr贸cenia wype艂nione formularze, czekaj膮c na urz臋dnika, aby wprowadzi膰 je do komputera i mo偶emy zako艅czy膰. Opr贸cz czeka na nasz numer, proces trwa oko艂o 10 minut. Jest to o wiele szybciej ni偶 to by艂o w 2007 roku.

W tym czasie ju偶 by艂o po wszystkim, 偶e nadszed艂 czas na nasze cotygodniowe spotkania w Kandulski ze Zbyszek wi臋c pojechali艣my tam. Podczas naszej rozmowy powiedzia艂 nam ca艂膮 histori臋 o gospodarstwa pa艅stwowego starego re偶imu, ma艂e prywatne ogr贸dki dzia艂kowe w Poznaniu i troch臋 wi臋cej na temat systemu politycznego. Jest, oczywi艣cie, nasz polski nauczyciel, ale jest r贸wnie偶 mn贸stwo informacji na temat Polska i podoba mi si臋 bardzo.