I would if I could but I didn't. All because of the lame excuse.

I wrote this post because of this:  House to probe mandatory OFW insurance.

Flashback.  c.a. December 2007.

I got a job and was to start on Christmas day.  I went home to the villa where I was staying and shared the joy with my room mates.  Over dinner, I tried to convince them that we should all get the OWWA card.  The funny thing about this is, I was the newbie and all six of them have been OFWs for more than a year and none of them had the OWWA card.  All because they had no time.  So, I convinced them that we should all go to the Philippine Consulate and get them on a certain day.  We agreed we would... but on which day?

Since I left our country and started to find work there, one of the persistent thoughts in my mind was:  how my body would be repatriated back home if I end up dead outside the country?  Excuse me if you find this morbid, but I just find this a crucial part of my existence as an OFW.  I have been bothered by those news about Filipinos ending up dead somewhere out there and their bodies couldn't be brought back home because either they were tourists, undocumented, didn't have insurance or repatriation, or non-members of the OWWA.

After my sponsorship visa, residence visa, and labor card came out, I was officially an OFW.  And as I spent each day of this life of mine as an OFW, I have always thought of getting this card.  But I never had the chance.

I never had the time.

That's why I am for the implementation of mandatory insurance for OFWs.  I don't mind how much it costs really.  This might look like a big cut from whatever part of my salary, but I really wouldn't mind.  No, no, no. My take is that I believe that medical insurance is something that I always wanted to have but DO NOT want to use.

This happens, and this happens a lot.  Most of the people I met in Dubai did not have insurance, not even an OWWA card.  And if you ask them why, they will tell you what I myself will tell you:  I didn't have the time to get it.  We couldn't take a leave from work to get the card.  Because taking a leave from work will mean that it will take more than a day to process the card. And, your employer is most likely not to allow you to get that leave.

If the OWWA card and the medical insurance have been mandatory during my time, I wouldn't have to worry about the coverage.

All I had during my time as an OFW was the Workmen's Compensation.  It covers repatriation expenses of my body, and just in case I ran out of work and had to go back to my home country.  But honestly, I didn't even find out how much was the cover.  I knew it was for AED 7,500.00 but I don't know if it would be enough to cover the whole expenses of bringing my body back home.