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My wife and I are planning a trip to CR in Dec. of this year. Just looking ahead into the near future, what is the best way of obtaining affordable quality health care if we settle in CR. How do you quys do it that have moved from USA, Canada, and abraod.
Manny
You have several choices, Manny:
First, you can pay cash. Care here is much more affordable than in the U.S., and the quality is very good.
Second, you can purchase international health insurance most of which policies cover care throughout the world except in the U.S. or Canada.
Third, you can purchase health insurance from INS, the Costa Rican monopoly, with various levels of coverage, deductibles and breadths of care.
Fourth, once you are a legal resident, you can enroll in the Costa Rican Social Security system’s CAJA health plan which functions much like an American-style health maintenance organization.
If you are retired from the U.S. military and have Tri-Care, that will cover you here, as will some other U.S.-based health insurance plans. Our Michigan Blue Cross/Blue Shield, for example, will cover care for unforseen illnesses and accidents but it will not cover routine health care as it would in the U.S.
You can also purchase air evacuation insurance which will take you back to the U.S. where your existing health insurance (including Medicare) will cover you.
David,
I would love to hear a little of your story regarding why you choose to move to costa rica.Keith
Manny,
If you are retired military or a disabled veteran then there is medical coverage under VA or Tricare in Costa Rica. Here they call it Tricare for life. If this applies to you and you are interested in more information let me know.
Keith,
In words of one syllable or less, we got sick of living in the United States.
Australia, New Zealand and even Canada wouldn’t have us as retirees. I did a Google search on retirement destinations and Costa Rica kept popping up. One two-week trip here and we were convinced.
Dave
Yesterday, I spent 2 hours in the ICE office trying to upgrad my computer system. We have tried for over 2 years to get a telephone in our name. Not having a telephone in our name was no problem until we tried to get upgrades so we could use a highspeed internet system. It seems that we have to ge the owner of the telephone to sign papers. We have tried to get a telephone line in our name for over 2 years.
If a plane would have stopped by the ICE office yesterday I may have gotten on it. What I went through yesterday reminded me of my freedom as an American. You have to lose some of those freedoms to really understand what you have.
We may get a wire tap in the USA but we can get a telephone. The motive for coming to Costa Rica has to be much more then the fact that it is cheaper, the climate is great, and medical expense are tolerable. You have to develop a love for this country and enjoy what it offers, then it’s shortfalls you will be able to adjust to.
I can act as if my day at ICE did not have an affect on me. It did, I realized that I have given up some freedoms to be here and if I want those freedoms returned all I have to do is go home. The Costa Rican people do not have that choice.
We may have problems in the USA and we may become discussed enough to leave but that is our choice. That is what makes being a citizen of the US so special. That is why the whole world is trying to get there. Sure a few of us are leaving but think of the many who are staying.
You have “given up some freedoms to be here and if I want those freedoms returned all I have to do is go home.” (To the USA)
You have to be kidding me Jenny! Have you not seen what has happened to “freedoms” in the US and in the UK in the last five years?
I have never felt more free and content as I do living in Costa Rica and having lived in the US for 11 years so it’s not an inexperienced point of view.
Scott Oliver
WeLoveCostaRica.comI understand, Jenny. Trying to get almost anything to work effortlessly through ICE is frustrating if you live more than 20km from San Jose and 5km from a communications tower. The only place I have ever cried in public since my 5th birthday, was in the ICE office in my local town. Everyone was pleasant and patient. My Spanish is tolerable and I understood every word spoken, I simple couldn’t understand why they couldn’t do what I wanted when the walls were plastered with advertisements saying that they could.
They went out and got a teenager to translate for the ‘stupid old lady’ (my words, not theirs) and that was the point at which I capitulated. I do have a ‘phone and internet through ICE and it works intermittently. I also have a cell’phone from Canada, which I use when I am desperate although all local calls cost $2.00 per minute as they are routed through Canada.
However, in January, I do not have to shovel the non-existing rain and the Heliconias bloom in the garden. Who needs high-speed internet?
PURA VIDA
AnneLiseScott and Anna,
First Scott you lived in the US, but you are not a citizen of the US. I have used my citizenship and it’s priviledges and protections in many countries. Sure there are difficult times and difficult things but I have the freedom to get as many telephones as I want. If I want to open a business all that is required is for me to pay the fee and make sure that my credentials are in order. Those are freedoms, my complaint is that many coming here have to realize there is a trade off. For me that is a trade off, other things about Costa Rica have to be more meaningful.
I need highsped internet, Cell telephones give off a heat while you are using them and plus they are not secure means of communication. Costa Rica is a wonderful country and yes we are having problems in the US but there are also benefits. The difference is that Costa Ricans are leaving here in larger numbers based on the size of the country then citizens of the US are coming here. They want that freedom that we are easily giving up and they have a hard time understanding why we would give it up.
Not complaining just commenting on what I feel is true for me. Yes a person who in the US is not exactly entitled to full citizenship rights.
There has to be more of a reason to come here other than because you are discussed with your country. Costa Ricans are discussed with their country. It has to be more then looking for cheap medical treatment, and a cheaper way to live.
You have to fall in love with this country and the people in order to survive here. Those who do not end of returning to where ever they come from. What are the statistics, five years.
Remember this is my opinion, it does not have to be anyone elses reality. Lets talk about things that are a fact which we may feel is negative, people reading this bulletin board have a right to hear about our daily challenges. Why are we trying to sugar coat everything. Stating facts does not always mean that you are complaining or being negative.
You better believe by the time I left the ICE office, my blood pressure was a little high. In fact the whole thing made me so upset until all I could do was shed a few tears. It bugged me and while it was happening, my thoughts were not tuned into the great weather, cheap cost of living, nor health care.
My thoughts did turn to the fact that I gave up my freedom to get a telephone when I wanted one and internet service when I want it. That was and is my choice. So you decide to write the bulletin board and let off a little steam.
Anne,
Being in Costa Rica has no comparison, it has to be where you want to be. It is sort of like being married to a man who is not perfect. You have to keep in mind his perfected qualities so when things come up that are frustrating, you can over come.
Everything has it’s challenges, it was the weather here that convinced me to stay. I hate airconditioners and furnaces. The desperate desire to stay away from both, plus the wonderful Costa Rican people have helped me override many of the shortfallings.
Believe me, I almost forgot that while in the ICE office yesterday.
Jenny,
You’re right a lot of people want to come to the united states because of the dream they see on television. And for some they can make a great life here if they can grab hold of some of that money flying by! However a lot of them find life here very difficult because of the reality that waits for them. Housing for one is extremely expensive for someone earning $7 dollars an hour, no health care, transportation etc…Here in NYC I have spoken with many a disgruntled cabby who works 6 days a week to get by and life is not so sweet. Yes for the poorest of the poor coming from Guatemala, Mexico etc…working in a factory, restaurant etc is better than what they had(maybe) but look under the surface and they are living 6 to a room in squalor. It is a bit ironic that we are two peoples searching for the good life passing each other at the border…Capitalism dangles a carrot in front of you and tells you work hard and you will get the prize…but most spend a lifetime chasing that carrot and sometimes even after grabbing it find it wasn’t all that was cracked up to be. Find peace within yourself and that will be an end to suffering and just maybe you will be happy with what you have, or at least be in a better position to go after what you truly desire.Freedom in the US is only a perception. You’re not really free at all. All your phone calls on those phones you could’ve gotten here so easily in the US are monitored by the No Such Agency (NSA). Your bank accounts are constantly monitored for suspicious activity and if you so much as make an atypical withdrawal or deposit, you are reported to Big Brother. i’ve owned a half dozen businesses in the US and the bureaucratic paper trail was a freaking nightmare, not to mention the taxes, (city, state and federal), and all the other stuff you need to operate and be legal. If you live anywhere near a big city every movement you make once you leave your house is being videotaped. They know where you are at all times, they know your driving routes, they know everything about you, including what you buy at the supermarket. They can also come to your house, kick in your door, lock you up and never tell you why. They can also search your home when you aren’t there and never even tell you. This does not fall into my definition of freedom, but rather some pre-Third Reich tactics that anyone who lived in Europe during the war will recognize as creeping fascism. Yes, I can imagine that dealing with ICE is a stressful event, but I’ll take that frustration any day over the erosion of rights that is constantly happening here in this country.
Where have you been Lotus, it is good to hear from you. This forum was getting sort of dull, every once in a while we need a forum stimulator.
You are so correct about the conditions and those things you say do make me feel ashamed. From what most of them say it is better then not having. When I was younger (just a couple years ago) the Polish, Italians, Hungarians, Germans and some Russians were coming in and that was the thing we used to joke about when we were kids, they all stayed in the same house. Often times the two bedroom house had two families and only one bathroom.
Many of them became successful, the Vietnames, the Chines, Korean and many others. The ladies from Vietnam took over the nail salon business. Offered a lower rate and caused many US citizen owned nail salons to close. We can talk about the many failures and successes.
It makes me feel sad that in order to get affordable health care we have to look offshore. People who are from one of the wealthiest countries in the world are moving to one of the poorest countries in the world to get quality medical care. That is very ironic dont you agree.
Our greatness in the US is because we have been blessed with so many people from so very many cultures.
We need good quality medical care and we have paid and still have to pay for medicare it should cover us regardless to where we are. Why should it only cover us if we live in the US. You can select not to take medicare but then that means if you go home you will not be covered.
Health care is so very important, that includes dental care. The average US citizen can not afford to go to the dentist. Most Costa Ricans that we have come in contact with can afford to go to a dentist. Something seems very wrong doesnt it.
Hello Marvilla,
You are right about what you are saying but since I am not free white and but over 21 the system in the US has always had me under suspicion, if we made money. They have always monitored our bank accounts, they have always shown great concern if we did things that were not expected of us to do. I can remember when my grandfather went to the bank, to deposit $200.00 in 1954, the banker was called, the teller would not deposit the money until the banker questioned my grandfather about where and how he had gotten all that money.
Welcome to the club, regardless to how they treated us or even treat us you will find given the opportunity we are probably the last people that will leave the US and the first to serve in the military. What you are considering as a loss of freedom is a freedom I have never had, so someone listening to our telephone calls or monitoring our earnings and spending has always been a way of life. If you ask me why I would consider that as freedom, the answer is this, I could have left the country any time I wanted to leave. There are not a lot of countries who have that freedom. There are some things that others had that because we were there we would get. So why would I go where no one had, so sure we are in a terrible situation and I am sorry it has affected you but now you can see what I have always known.
Given all of that the USA is the best country and sure there are problems and sure I am in Costa Rica. It is my priviledge as a US citizen that gives me the right to enjoy the benefits of a blue passport stamped USA.
Sort of like my husband, he has some qualities that get on my nerves but nothing is so bad about him that I want to leave. Sure go on a vacation, have days I enjoy freedoms, but the benefits of being his wife far outweigh the problems
George Bush and no other president is going to every make me give up what belongs to me. People I know have died for what is rightfully mine. Maybe by your loss of freedom we blacks have now attained equality, they still check my bags more then yours. We are all under suspicion, who would have ever known that, that would be the balancing act.
I love my country even though the Russian immigrant has more rights then me. Talking about losses at least you had it so you know what is lost. You can never lose what you never had. So Costa Rica is not my haven from my country, it is just where I want to be at this time in my life. If you said that I could never return home to the USA, then we would purchase a ticket and leave, no matter what we have here in Costa Rica.
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