'Fun' with Government Agencies

Well, today was a day of dealing with Government Agencies. First I had to deal with the entire eCard issue. They started that thing back in 2005. It's sort of your Social Security Master Key. Gives you access to health insurance, insurance coverage with accidents, dental benefits, prescription coverage, unemployment benefits and so on. But this eCard can do way more. You can have added more functions to that card and it becomes sort of a citizen card. LIt let's you do a lot deal ins you have with Government Agencies online and you can use this card as an ID card and for your online bank dealings. Well the WebSite for the eCard explains all th functions of the card, what information is encrypted on the card and who has access to that information. It even explains in easy words how your personal information is protected. The only thing this website doesn't tell you is, how you get the card issued in the first place. All searches in their website for that particular question lead to zero results. That's a big, fat Fail in my book. The information from the eCard WebSite, plus additional information from the WebSite of the Unemployment Office, plus some information from the WebSite of the Social Security Administration, plus some deductive reasoning finally gave me the answer I was looking for. You can get the eCard in 2 ways: If you start a new job and you don't have an eCard one will be issued. The second way of getting that card issued is by filing a claim with the Unemployment Office. Well so I called the Unemployment office. Not because I could collect unemployment but just for the reason of getting health insurance. I gut surprisingly quick a hold of them and talked to a very friendly and helpful clerk. That came as quite a surprise to me! I remember those clerks being anything but helpful, grumpy and even rude at times. I asked her right away what the deal was, since I hadn't worked in Austria or the EU for the past 8 years. She told me that the max. period than can be bridged, when it comes to health insurance through the Unemployment Office, is 5 years. The only option I still do have is to file for 'Mindestsicherung'. That are Minimum Security Benefits...and that would give me again health insurance coverage. But to file for 'Mindestsicherung' you have to meet certain criteria. Not quite sure what those are and before talking about that to the Unemployment Office I really wanted to do my research, so that I know what I'm talking about. Since the Unemployment Office is only open till 1 pm on a Friday, I knew that I wouldn't be done in time doing my research. So I guess round 2 of the 'Fun wi Government Agencies' will be played on Monday. I will definitely keep you guys posted!!