Medical tourism in Costa Rica
An article in today’s New York Times on medical tourism reminded me of one of the stories of medical care in Costa Rica I heard down there. The woman had gotten a $2000 estimate for a crown and told her dentist flippantly that she’d rather get it done in Costa Rica for that price. He was quite defensive about it, and she went ahead with it. She and her husband live part-time in the Osa Peninsula, so they headed down and went to their local clinic. She decided not to tell the dentist exactly what was needed to see if he knew what was up. He did, and it was done for $120. They spent less than $2k for a crown and a week of surfing.
Some of the other stories were also positive - nice hospital experiences where you’re treated like a human being. Doctors who take the time to get to know you and don’t hurry out of the office. It’s not perfect of course - if you’re using the CAJA (national healthcare) and you need an operation, you’ll have to wait. Obviously that’s not good if it’s a life or death situation, but for many expats, paying out of pocket for private care is an affordable option. One person mentioned a c-section costing $3500, and midwife services can cost much less. Prices for generic prescriptions are way low.
I priced international health insurance for the four of us - comprehensive care - and there was a significant difference in cost based on whether coverage was required in the US or not. For ~$1600, we can get coverage worldwide except in the US. For an extra $1k, we can add coverage in the US as long as it is not our primary residence. How ridiculous is that? $1000 to have medical coverage in the US for one vacation a year. It boggles the mind that coverage can extend to countries like England, France and Germany but the situation in the US is so skewed towards profits that it costs 60% more.
The experience I had walking into a pharmacy in Costa Rica was very pleasant. I had written down all the options of medications beforehand just in case there were not any English-speaking pharmacists. Lucky for me, there was a nice English-speaking pharmacist there to help me and tell me which medications were available. I was just there to get some motion sickness pills for the plane ride. One nice thing is that I could choose to buy as many pills as I needed. I chose to get 3 pills, if my memory serves me right. I got a few extra just in case. I think I spent something like 30 cents. I really liked that because I only use Dramamine something like once every year or two. Usually the package expires, and I’m stuck with 20 more pills going in the garbage can. This way, I only spent 30 cents and I got exactly the amount I needed (plus a little extra). Makes sense.
This is such a great post! Quite unbelievable actually. I just read a post on the Costa Rica HQ blog about how James went to the doctor and it only cost him $15 for a check up and prescriptions, but he had a reaction to the scripts so he went back to the doctor to get a different medication. He didn’t charge him for the second visit because he felt he didn’t do his job properly the first time. Amazing!
Rob
Our family loves Costa Rica. We just got back from our Costa Rica family vacation. We plan to travel there again in the future. We especially liked Manuel Antonio and the Mono Titi monkeys there.