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Jenny,
You’re a good soul with a lot of spunk as they say.
Pura Vida!
Maravilla,
You would be very at home on the Upper Westside(NYC) with the other Marxists! Lol!!! (Meant to be funny)
Lotus,
Thanks for your encouragement. Since living in Costa Rica and nothing seems to be highly spiced, I enjoy a little hot chilli peppers. They stimulate the blood, which is very important.
let’s start another moving and hot subject. Although this one was about medical care, well Im a woman and we are accused many times of changing the subject. (smile)
Hey Marvilla,
Just give me the money that goes with it. Thanks for not calling me an old woman. That would be true, but an insult. Can you think of something else we can disagree on (smile). Marxist now that is a real good one, a black marxist, will my equality extend to the klan.
Was this subject health care?
Let’s add a little positive spice to this Welovecostarica forum.
Jenny — I would never call you an old woman because we are only a few years apart! jejeje —
As for ffordable healthcare — you’re right about it being too expensive for the average person, but if I were an immigrant, with no papers, I could go to the hospital and get treated and not pay. Dentists are a whole other story — last summer my dentist here wanted to charge me $575 to have a filling replaced and a deep cleaning. I went to Costa Rica and had both done for a total of $42. First class work, with a first class dentist. The HMOs destroyed the healthcase system in the States; healthcare now barely resembles what I remember it being when I was much younger (which seems like a long time ago!).
As for being a Marxist — my ex-mother-in-law was a card-carrying member on the UWS back in the 30’s — maybe some of it rubbed off on me. LOL
Maravilla,
You are correct, I went to an eye doctor here in Costa Rica and he did a full eye exam using all of those machines plus 5 visits it cost me a total of $150. Since then if I want to go to the doctor I just go, if he says that xrays are needed. No sweat they only cost about $20.00
Health care is great, most people do not realize that the doctors at home look on a chart and if you need something that your insurance does not cover they dont mention it to you.
Health care in Costa Rica is very affordable, with or with out insurance.
A lot of people here self insure for that very reason. They keep a few thousand in the bank to cover minor problems and insure major problems or use a large deductible.
We were over insured in the US but since coming here we have droped some coverages. If a person wants to keep their health care coverage in the US, because it is included in a retirement package, they should check and to see if they have any international coverage. Im retired from Civil Service and we were under Mail Handlers Insurance. They covered up to 75% of the cost. That covered me internationally, so regardless to where we traveled we were covered. My husband is retired military and the military pays 75% percent under TRICARE.
So for us we did not need the extra protection. Many are going to travel and some people are going to be returning home on a vacation or visiting grandchildren.
My suggestions is that everyone should look at medical coverage based on what they will be doing. If you never plan to leave Costa Rica then the Caja system is okay for you.
How is that for getting back on the subject.
When we were young we moved based on having a good time, quality schools for our children and a good neighborhood. Now since we are older we move based on medical care (smile) what a drastic change.
No one ask much about the social features of Costa Rica. Our major topics are on cheap food, cheap places to stay and medical care. Who is willing to start a walk for life program, what do they call them in Germany. Bridge anyone, what about line dancing. Some good ole country buggy, the only time I get to shout and act crazy is when I go to church. There has got to be something we can get shaking on.
Lets start stimulating and stop medicating. That is affordable health care. A few old age tennis tournaments, some racquette ball.
The best medicine is to move and groove. A little shake a tail feather baby. Am I dating myself.
I am begining to think that age means complaints about how things use to be, the good old days. Sort of like some photos that I have taken over the years. When I took them I complained about how they look but now when I look at those photos they look good. That is the way it is about life. When I was younger many complaints were lodged by me of how things were being done, with each era of life I find that the one I left is better then the one we are in.
Hello, my wife and I are thinking about retiring there, I will be reitirng form the Air Force, please provide info on the Tricare system.
Agnes & Mike
Actually Jenny – Who would we speak with to try and get a full blown article about TriCare for the site?
This is a group of people that I would especially like to help.
Please email the contact details and I’ll arrange something …
Scott Oliver – Ex-Royal Marines Commando &
Founder – WeLoveCostaRica.comScott,
Please contact Jim and Jo Ella Young at Sima Hospital. They have an office in the lobby of the hospital building, just as you come in the front door.
The care is not only TRICARE but it is also care for disabled military Veterans. Some veterans are suffering from thins that were at one time not covered and now they are, so they should check with Jim and Jo Ella. They also have a Veteran volunteer working to help veterans establish claim through the system.
They work very closely with the Embassy to get papers filled out for benefits.
To give you and example that there may be people who are entitled to benefits but they do not know are some veterans who served in Vietnam and were exposed to Agent Orange, yello and white, plus some other chemicals that they now attribute to many medical problems. plus we have the Gulf War Vet, Afaghanastan and Iraqu Some of the problems were not approved for medical coverage that have been and VA offers coverage for those veterans. A lot of them do not know about it.
They can contact Jim and Jo Ella also I will send you a web page that has information about the care. Jeanetta
Mike and Agnes,
It is wonderful in Costa Rica, you will appreciate the community life. It is tough after you have served most of your life in a community setting to give that up. My husband and I found bonding relationships in RVing for many years. We really never understood that we liked associations and most civilians do not establish those relationships.
We found that type of community fellowship here in Costa Rica. So we not only enjoy the Costa Ricans and their wonderful country, we are enjoying the other community of Expats from all over the world. It is nice, you will enjoy living in Costa Rica.
To know we have medical care that just puts icing on the cake. Before coming here we had no knowledge that TRICARE or VA would cover us.
This is one thing that I want to tell you Mike is that the military uses up your youth and most do not leave it unscared in some way. Make sure before you retire, that you attain records of your duty assignments . My husband got out healthy and then just 2 years later the affects of Agent Orange showed up.
He just got approved for his disablity coverage. So make sure you keep records put them all together and keep them handy just in case you may need them. Document your medical problems, that is very important.
If anyone else is reading this and you think that because of your military service you have developed a condition that may have been caused by where you served, please contact Jim Young and JoElla at Sima Hospital. Diabetes has been associated with Agent Orange used in Vietnam, if you were on a ship docked on the Coast of Vietnam and Agent Orange or some of those other agents were sprayed you may have been affected. All Vets who have served need to contact VA. It does not make a difference how long the condition took to manifest. Contact VA
Jenny, or anyone else,
I just recently read on another discussion blog that CIMA also has some type of health plan similar to an HMO like in the states. Does anyone have any info on this or heard of it befor? It’s the first time I ever came across that there was something other than INS or CAJA. Would be especially intersted if any pre-x clause and cost.Thanks, Debbie
Sometimes it’s hard to delineate between “freedom” and “convenience”. The ICE can be and extreme inconvenience. It can also create a formidable barrier to a successful business. However, when I was faced with a 10 year wait for a home phone line, I had the freedom to pay someone $1,000 for an existing line.
In Costa Rica I always felt much freer than in the US. The State has less enforcement powers, and less resources. Getting stopped by a “tráfico” is entertaining. Getting stopped by a U.S. police officer is highly stressful.
But there are two side to every coin. The same freedoms afforded to me by a weak State can also make for a less secure environment. You’re free to fall into a volcano – no signs, personnel or fences will stop you. You’re free to trip over large curbs or badly deteriorated sidewalks – there’s no OSHA or Americans with Disabilities Act to protect you. Criminals are freer to prey on their victims.
Ying & yang – life in balance. There is no Nirvana, only a series of compromises.
The good news, Oscar Arias may be the influential president they need to change the constitution to allow for market freedom in the area of communications, as well as energy and insurance. We can all hope!
Thanks Gringo
Hope you dont mind I cut your name a little short. What you said is diffinetly looking at the situation in a different prospective.
The only thing about paying you have to keep on paying. That is not a good solution and if it cost you a thousand then what would the cost be know.
If we were just going to recieve a few calls from the US there would be no problem, I need telephones for my business. It is just amazing to be in a country that seems as if they do not care whether they make money or not. We have been in a lot of countries but this is the first country that we have ever lived in that seemed as if they did not care if it was prosperous.
How can you expect for businesses to come when they can not get a telephone. People that are going into business here do not even consider the fact that they may not be able to get a telephone. Holding that cell telephone up to my ear with all that radiation is not the answer for us. Plus there is a privacy issue with cell telephones.
We stayed in Costa Rica for the wonderful life style it offers but we never even considered that we would not be able to get a telephone.
That is the one adjusting factor that is difficult. For us a telephone is a necessary item, fax machines, computers, dishwasher, washer, dryer, hot water. They all go together dont they?
When we discuss Costa Rica we should be fair and let people know that there are challenges but as you say there is compensating factors as well. Arias is on the top of my prayer list.
It was expensive because I lived in a remote area, and I bought the line from a private party (it was a free market price). You can get a phone line cheaper and faster in a less remote area. The important thing is to look into the feasibility of obtaining the line prior to selecting your home. If you can get it directly from the ICE, it’s cheap.
You bring up a good point about people not caring about being prosperous. This gets into one of the root differences between Costa Ricans (and Latin America in general), and the developed world (particularly the U.S.)
Many, if not most, Costa Ricans live day-to-day. Refrigerators are still new conveniences there, and even now most families buy their food daily, usually from little “pulperias”. Gringos have double refrigerators & stand alone freezers, and buy bulk at Sam’s Club or Costco to hold out for a month before returning. Gringos are excellent wrappers, famous for saran wrap, tin foil & burping tupperware (even though the Tupperware family lives, or lived, in Aserrí). Ticos many times leave food out overnight without refrigeration, and still use wax paper (not to seal – just to keep the flies off).
This state of mind translates to their jobs – when they made enough colones for the day, they can stop working. Tomorrow, they’ll make what the need for that day.
I’m generalizing. Costa Rica and Costa Ricans are changing, but this is where they’re coming from.
Gringos are also famous for working themselves to death to get ahead. This, of course, is also a generalization – I know plenty of lazy gringos. But again, it is an important part of our cultural character. Because of our drive, greed and initiative, we often work overtime, travel more for business, and move away from extended family to pursue better jobs in other cities. As a result, we separate ourselves from our extended families, and spend less time with our spouses & children as well. This is one of the things that make us so productive economically. The price for this success is a poor family life, and no time to smell the roses, or live in the “Now” (we live in the future).
Ticos live more in the “Now”. They can’t move away, because there’s no where to move to. In older, well-established communities the entire extended family lives on the same block. This large family support system lasts a life-time. 18 year-olds are mot expected to move out. On the contrary, many Ticos live in two houses during their lives, the one where they were born, and the one they bought when they got married. They go from complete dependency on their family, to complete dependency on their spouse, with no opportunity to be on their own in between.
We gringos are expected to make it on our own. That fierce independence and “frontierism” runs through our national character. It took us 100 years to settle the US from coast to coast. The Ticos – they did it in a couple days.
Costa Rica comes from an agricultural-based economy, with a year-round cultivating season. More food will be ripe tomorrow. The US comes out of an industrial-based economy with a long winter. We need to get to work on time to be ready when the machines start up, and if we don’t store enough for the winter we’ll starve.
Then there’s the religious factor. I hope I don’t insult anyone, but here goes…
Latin America is almost totally Roman Catholic. Gringoland is more Christian. Roman Catholics are taught that their life on earth is something to suffer through, waiting for the after-life. Christians, in the spirit of Martin Luther, are taught that they don’t have to go through the church to get to God, they can do it on their own. They are more in control of their own destiny. Many think that this splinter in the church is one of the factors that led to the renaissance, the scientific method, and maybe even market economics.
There are exceptions, but just look at the economic strength of the US, the UK and Germany (Christian-based), vs France, Spain and Italy (Catholic-based).
Added to all this is the fact that is was much better to be a British colony than a Spanish colony. England invested in their colonies, while Spain just took and took.
An even more controversial, and some would even call racist, factor, is the Arabian equation. Arabs, unfortunately, are known for getting ahead by defeating their superiors (Saddam Hussein being one of the best, or worst, examples). The Moors occupied Spain for 800 years, and some say that this trait rubbed off. In Costa Rica this is called ceruchando el piso sawing the floor out from under someone. Once a Tico told me that if 10 Ticos were stuck in a can, they’d stomp on each other trying to get out. Put 10 Gringos in the can and they’d made a human pyramid to help each other get out. We see this in US politics as well. One of the reasons Hispanics have little political power here is they tend to undermine each other during the campaigns. Hispanic women, in particular must endure a backlash from their own community when they run for office, particularly their macho husnads and brothers, who try to tear them down.
In conclusion, there are many root causes of our divergent cultures. As always, one is not necessarily better than the other, just different.
Again, all generalities, but with grains of truth running through it. My intention here is not to criticize, but rather to help people understand the basic differences between our two cultures, and help them come together. In the end, it’s ying & yang. Let us celebrate our diversity. Those of us who live in both worlds can only try to take the best of each culture, and discard the worst.
That was great where have you been. Gringo that is one of the reason it does not upset me anymore that my journey to the US was because of slavery. I believe that their was and is a plan for the USA, because we all have come from one struggle or another in getting there.
One day while praying, within my spirit I heard these words, you were enslaved to be set free. Not that the Germans and English are better people it is just that God uses who he wants to use. He does as he pleases and blesses who he blesses. We may call it unfair but then what is fair.
That is why for me being in Costa Rica is so important. It just feels right, my motive for coming and my motive for staying is far different then what we are actually doing here.
My husband and I are trying to be a part of the changing times in Costa Rica. Building a vision for the future, we see a people that have everything that is needed to be successful failing because of the lack of vision. More lives can be touched by coming here rather than them going to the USA, more can be accomplised.
Thank you for your writing, it may not be the only truth but it is true. I enjoyed reading it and I am sure others did.
Okay, no tell me how can I get a telephone through ICE? We need it for our business. We want broadband, we have a line but it is in someone elses name and locating him is very difficult.
Does anyone know the secret, please share it with me. We are only a few km from the center of the city. laterrazagrecia@msn.com
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