Prague Journal

Tuesday, December 07, 2004.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004.
Today is Peter’s last day in Prague, so Rick and I took him to lunch. We talked mostly about DU math department stuff, but also about Prague culture. I enjoy having a chance to talk with him, since he can explain so much about things here to me. I will always be an outsider, and I have no real perspective on the changes that have occurred over the last 15 years, except for what I read and hear. Despite the fact that I find research about economic and social trends tedious at times, it’s the main way I learn about things.
Tonight is the first night of Chanukah and I was able to find some Chanukah-like candles and candle-holders so that we could light Chanukah lights in celebration. While Prague celebrates St. Nicholas Day and Christmas in high style, I was surprised to see a huge menorah in front of the Rudolfinum, put up by Chabad. On the one hand, it’s nice that there are no fears of public Jewish displays, but I am still uncomfortable with such public displays of religion. The Christmas markets have lots of Christmasy stuff, but little in the way of religiosity or incessant Christmas carols. Since I go to few stores, I may be oblivious to the extent of the commercialism here.
Instead of going to Bejt Praha to light the first candle, or to the Chanukah party at Rabbi Hoffberg’s house with Eunice, Rick and I went to Mlýnec to attend the Women in Business dinner. MIB usually meets on Monday, but this month they rescheduled to Tuesday (today) because the restaurant could not accommodate our group on Monday. Mlynec is a pretty high-priced place, but this must be the time of year for fancy dinner parties. So, since this is the one evening a year that spouses are included with the women, we decided to go, anticipating that there would be a crowd of people. My real agenda was to meet with some women entrepreneurs to network and expand the sample of interviewees for Eva’s and my research. On that score the evening was a disappointment. WIB had only two tables filled, and only a few independent business women attended. Most of the women who came tonight were employed rather than employers. Nonetheless, we had a nice evening. Rick had an interesting chat with Pedro Patricio, the Commercial Counselor at the Portuguese Embassy here in Prague, and I spent most of the evening talking to Jana, who is working with the Health Ministry on healthcare reform.
Czechs miss more work due to illness and injury than almost anyone else, twice the rate of Germany and Austria, and a third higher than the Slovaks. It’s unlikely that Czechs are more prone to illness, but that they take advantage of a social system that provides relatively generous sick-leave benefits. They still receive 69% of their average daily salary during sick leave, but now receive only 25% of their salary for the first three days of illness, compared to twice that much a year ago. As a result, the number of sick-leave cases has dropped considerably. The government is already planning to lower extended sick-leave benefits to 60%. To take further burden off the state, the government is also aiming to push through legislation which would require the employer—and not the state—to pay benefits for the first 14 days. The nature of the health-care benefits is a more thorny issue. Since healthcare is free – and mandated by the constitution—people commonly go to a doctor just for an aspirin. I won’t comment on the other extreme of the US healthcare system, but there surely has to be a compromise that works.

posted by JWinn @ 4:31 PM