We have a slang for it in Indonesian. Ilfil. From the word Ilang (lost) and feeling. Commonly referred when you liked someone and one day they did something that made you lost interest in them. But the slang can be used in multiple different scenarios too.
In this weekend post I’ll write about my one experience losing respect for one of my… (I want to say friend but we were not that close to begin with) so I’ll say acquaintance.
Let me explain quickly about the healthcare system in Indonesia. We have a national healthcare system and a dozen of privately owned insurances. The national healthcare system were only implemented less than a decade ago and it has its downfalls and weird settings. It has its pros and cons, just like any other system.
A lot of privately owned healthcare insurances came into the market, some are older than the implementation of the national healthcare system. As a doctor in Indonesia we didn’t really get to learn about healthcare insurance when we were in college and we learnt as we worked in the government owned hospital and clinics, our mandatory government duties, etc.
But I am not here to give critique to the national healthcare system nor to bash on the privately owned healthcare insurances. I am not knowledgeable enough nor I worked long enough in a place that required me to understand about the system (I worked in a tertiary clinic that the national healthcare system covered twice a week for 4 months and in a private hospital’s ER for 4 months. Both definitely not long enough for me to gain enough knowledge)
One of my acquaintance is (or was? I don’t really know) an agent from a really big privately owned healthcare insurance. I’m sure most of Indonesians have heard of it. My acquaintance was not happy with his previous job and he decided to become an agent. He was very good looking and friendly, its quite impossible not to grow fond of him.
I remembered he asked for my assistance on explaining some of the medical terms he would have to understand to explain to his future clients. Which is understandable because he didn’t come from a medical background, I happily obliged and told him the things he needed to know.
As natural a agent would do, he asked if I wanted to “invest” in his company’s healthcare insurance.
(I really don’t think a healthcare insurance is an “investment” since I think that investing in health is definitely a must for everyone to realize, but I don’t know why do insurance agents always emphasizes on when you are sick you’ll lose a lot of money so you should have health insurance? I get it, fear is a good marketing strategy, but with the things happening in someone’s private life, do you need to interfere? Everyone has the rights of spending their hard owned money. Maybe I am biased since I had an experience when withdrawing my deposit in the bank an an insurance agent blatantly look at my transactions and interests and said I should invest in retirement plans and the interests from my deposit should cover the monthly fees. Talk about privacy violation)
I declined since I am already covered in the national healthcare system and my mom included us in an another (not my acquaintance’s) privately owned healthcare insurance. But he insisted he wanted to review our family’s health care policies by coming into our house and reviewed it together with my parents. My parents really hate strangers coming over since they are very private (my best friends are allowed to come over with no problems since they are my best friends. but acquaintance that barely talked before this? No way).
So that’s that and we didn’t talk afterwards.
Friends. Let me tell you something, people who suddenly contacted you after a long time of no contact either: somehow suddenly liked you and want to get to know you better (crushes and such), or want to offer something related to money.
I am not a confrontational person so when he posted something like when you are sick and have no money no doctor will help you (not true, I met amazing doctors that helped the poorest and the people in need) and only insurance is your way out. (not true either, I met people who are really sick and the insurance won’t cover their sickness, as much as people could point fingers at me, let me tell you the bitter truth. sometimes there are sickness that even unlimited money couldn’t help you. Doctors are humans after all, we can only do what our limited capabilities can do).
But what made me lose respect for him is when he posted about his insurance when the pandemic hits Indonesia.
In his post was he said. “are you sure you are covered? Are you sure that the hospital will give you rooms when you got the virus? join us now”
And I was angry.
The virus is a national, no, international disaster, are you saying that somehow the government will close their eyes and somehow said the national healthcare system won’t cover the patients with the virus? Gee, I know that the national healthcare system is not perfect but not like that too.
And what it is about hospital not wanting to give rooms to people without a specific insurance? Right now a lot of hospital rooms are full and you think that only VIP rooms are needed for the virus? No, you need proper isolation room and proper PPEs for the staff, not just the luxury of the air conditioner or the TVs that you promote so much.
What puts the nail in the coffin for me is how dare he uses the virus to spread fear so that people will join his insurance company? People are scared and he somehow uses this momentum to promote his insurance company???
Yep, and after that I lost all respect I have.
I know I should talk to him about it, but I realized that sometimes, some people are not capable of hearing criticism or listening that they were wrong.
I don’t make this post to “cancel” him or any other agents from insurance companies. One of my cousin is in the healthcare insurance and she is an amazing person, she showed me that not all insurance company agents used fear as a marketing strategy and it’s nice. And she really respected doctors, which made me know that insurance companies can grow without commenting on doctors, the healthcare system and the hospital.
Friends, listen (or read), we live in a horrible time today, with the pandemic and economic crash and all the things we can’t predict in the future. Please, please take care of each other, please be mindful of each other, don’t spread fear and don’t spread misinformation, as if what other people have in their plate is not already too much for them.
Stay indoors if you don’t absolutely need to go out from the house, wear your masks, wash your hands, stop touching your face, stop touching other people, love yourself and love your families and friends, watch over their backs, and watch your own back too. Physically and mentally.
See you guys soon.
That Sleepy Zombie's Blog 