Costa Rica Launches Healthcare Development Plan

From the OPP Feb 2010

The Costa Rican government is hoping to team up with developers to build residential health care centres for foreign retirees.

The Retirement ‘Cluster’ project, announced last week, aims to offer wealthy US pensioners a variety of medical services including nursing and research, as well as recreational facilities, as a cheaper alternative to medical provision in their own country.

Retirement communities create more than “two to three times” the revenue of the tourism or real estate sectors on their own, minister for competitiveness George Woodbridge told AFP. If the cluster developments were to attract 10,000 retirees, they could create 40,000 jobs and generate $340 million annually in foreign exchange, he said.

Costa Rica last year attracted 30,000 medical tourists, who each spent an average of $6,000 each in the country. This number is expected to rise as “medical costs continue to grow in America,” said Woodbridge.

Medical tourism from the US is likely to grow at a sustainable rate of 35% a year to reach 1.6 million patients by 2012, according to Deloitte’s 2009 report on the topic, which also names Costa Rica as one of the top ten most popular destinations for medical tourism.

Source: OPP Feb 2010, to read the article in full click here

Health Care in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has one of the best health systems in Latin America. In addition to National Health care Private Health care is also available, very affordable, and high quality. Many doctors speak English and have received training in Europe, Canada, or the U.S.

There are three large, private hospitals that most expatriates use: CIMA hospital in Escazú, Clinica Biblica in San José, and Clinica Católica in San José-Guadalupe.

Statistics from the World Health Organization place Costa Rica in the top country rankings in the world for long life expectancy even though the per-capita income of Costa Ricans is about one-tenth that of the U.S. and the U.K. Arguably, one reason for this is the slower pace of living in Costa Rica combined with a healthy diet and a great climate. Costa Rica just seems to be a healthy place to live.
Costa Rica's Government-Run Health Care System

With a government-sponsored network of more than 30 hospitals and more than 250 clinics throughout the country, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) has primary responsibility for providing low-cost health care services to the Costa Rican population. Although sometimes overburdened, this system has worked well for Costa Ricans for the past 60 or so years.

This medical care is open not just to Costa Rican residents but the CCSS provides affordable medical service to any foreign resident or visitor. Foreigners living in Costa Rica can join the CCSS by paying a small monthly fee--based on income--or they can buy health insurance from the state monopoly Instituto de Seguro Nacional (INS), valid with over 200 affiliated doctors, hospitals, labs, and pharmacies in the private sector.

Costa Rica's Private Health Care System

Many of the country's highly trained physicians and some dentists work in the mornings for the CCSS and operate their own offices and clinics in the afternoons and evenings. While private health care in Costa Rica is more expensive than that offered by the same doctors and surgeons through the CCSS, the price is still far below that of the average office visit in the U.S. For example, a private office visit to almost any medical specialist costs around $40. Continued treatments for diagnosed problems will vary, but will almost always be considerably less than comparable treatment in the United States and Europe. Dental work, too, is provided at a much lower cost than in the U.S. and Europe.

The low costs and quality of care have proompted a boom in “health tourism.”

Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery

Costa Rica has long been a destination of choice for those in search of the Fountain of Youth. Many of the plastic and reconstructive surgeons in Costa Rica have been trained and board certified in the USA and Europe and they provide their talented services to thousands of satisfied patients year after year at a fraction of the costs of similar treatments in the USA or Europe.

Dental Care & Surgery

Foreign patients, seeking periodontal work and dental implants arrive in Costa Rica in greater numbers every month. Cost per implant, is between $750 and $850. Laboratory work here is much cheaper, but the materials used are all FDA approved and imported from the States.