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This is all fine and good with the long term health care and I am glad that a lot of people have the insurance which is really important.
How ever if you are like the majority of U.S. citizens you will might not have this option like my mother.
My mother was 70 when she found out she had Parkinson and after a couple of years it went down hill. She had to move out of her town home and into a none assisted living and by next year she might have to be in the assisted living section. It is a perfect set up because she doesn’t have to move, they have a nurse staffed for 24 hours, breakfast is included in her rent and it doesn’t have the nursing home feel. These are really new apartments that are only for seniors in later life. She is now 75 years old and racking up the medical bills like crazy. She praises that she has blue cross and blue shield which they are raping her for 700 dollars a month and she is paying 400 dollars on pills. Her pills would be more but she had insurance for her pills. When she sold her town home she came out with enough money to last her for the next 15 years but only if she was in a non assisted living. When she hits the assisted living it will knock her down to 10 years or less.
Now I know a lot of people are not in that situation but it is a growing amount of people that are. Just think if they had a development in CR that could cater to seniors in that situation. With the cost of living and cheap medical costs this could make life a lot easier for many people that are facing issues in their senior years.
Just having good insurance won’t solve the problem because 10 years from now what happens if the cost of health care doubles? Do you think that the long term health care insurance will be able to pick up the bill?So Scott has anyone in CR approached the idea of a condo or rental units that have assisted or non assisted living? In Mn it is becoming really popular to have a rental that is non assisted then going into assisted living when you need too. Price starts at 1300 then goes to 2500 to 3000 a month depending on the situation.
I could see this as a great investment because of the on site health care situation.
Hey by the way I met Randy Berg yesterday for lunch in MN, he is a nice guy!Hey have they done anything with the old Howard Air Force base? I understand that was being turned into a development?
Yes, Panama city is like a New York but in many ways a lot worse! People don’t want to tell you about the really bad parts of that town which would make hells kitchen look like a play ground. As you come over the Bridge of America into the city there is a huge housing project on the right hand side. This is one place you do not want to go to during the day time. The police won’t even go there during the day time! I don’t know if they cleaned it up since the last four years but this is a place where you will find many of the wanted criminals from Panama.
Some other facts about Panama is that it is one of the main traveling points for illegal arms shipments and illegal human traficing in the world. Since the U.S. gave back the cannal many problems have risen but are being kept under the rug due to the fact that Panama dosent want to look like they can’t control their problems.
One day in Minnesota I met a man in a resturant that was from China, he spoke really good spanish. I aske how he learned Spanish he said he lived in Panama for 3 years before he came to the U.S. we talked and he told me how he came to Mn illegally by paying money to be transported to Mn.
Again every country has their problems but I would have to say the most friendly people in Central America is Ticos!I do know of some developments in Panama and to tell you the truth, Panama used to be a home away from home for me. Prior to 2000 I had been in Panama for more than 15 times and I loved Panama. How ever they do have some serious problems along the border of Colombia. I understand that if you are purchasing property more than a certain amount of acerage you have to be incorperated because they don’t want non Panamainians buying up large amounts of property.
If you are looking at moving into the north side it is very hard to get there Panama City or San Jose you will have to take a charter flight to many locations. The travel time is much longer and harder than like San Jose to Jaco. This is one reason why most people shy away from Panama. Tourism in Panama has not boomed like in Costa Rica too so the infrastructure is not set up as well.
I personaly have not been to Panama since 2001 how ever I do plan on going back soon just to see my old stamping grounds.Yes Kazarie, I would suggest to learn a little spanish and travel the country. I am 41 and married to a Tica for the last 5 year and I have known my wife for 7 years. I met my wife online by accident. I would suggest not to stay around the tourist areas and go meet the costa rians in their own neighborhoods.
Also you might want to look on the front page of this site because I belive they had a good artical about this subjet.I know that there is a lot of fraud in the auto industry in CR because it is not as regulated as the U.S how ever I would caution people on just the facts stated above.
I personally am going to by a car that has been declared as a total loss here in the states. It is a newer Jeep Liberty, it is way below book value and the cost of fixing it will be cheaper than buying a used one that has not been in a wreck. My intentions are to drive this until the wheels fall off! This will be a good vehicle in CR because it is cheap and if anything happens to it I won’t be out a lot of money.
If you do find a car in CR that has been in a total loss I would first make sure that the mechanicals are in great shape and then with this information you can deal on the price to get it much cheaper than they are asking.
Some times if you buy a great looking newer car, you are opening your self up to problems. My brother in-law a tico in 2003 had a brand new Subaru WRX? That he paid 30,000 and at that time there was only a couple of them in the country like his, he had problems with people trying to steal it. Then he bought a mitz montero where there are thousands of them around and had no problems.To help make the descion on the costs here is a good web for the takes that you would need to pay. This is from the administry of finace of CR.
http://www.hacienda.go.cr/autohacienda/autovalor.aspxeEdited on Aug 03, 2006 09:38
I belive it also depends on what your style of life is too! You can find many homes in CR in upper scale developments that are priced 300,000 dollars and above. You can buy a nice brand new car for 20,000.00 or more. How ever if you really want to go cheap do what the natives do buy a nice house for under 100,000 dollars, pay it off and buy a nice cheap car. Then the rest is cheap except for gas and cloths. Vip movies tickets (this is where you are able to sit in a recliner with attendents to serve you food) at the movie theator is only 4 dollars, property taxes on a home under 100,000 is not more than 25.00 dollars a year, a pinapple is only 30 cents and Pura Vida time is priceless! Also you aren’t paying thousands of dollars a month on health care costs!
Hmm that is interesting because the accounts that we were accessing were in the states. We normally take money out at the shopping centers atm and have not been charged a ATM from the Costa Rican bank.
How ever we get hit really hard from the U.S. banks with international fees and a fee just because we didn’t use thier ATM.
Maybe it just depends on the banks ATM that you choose.You will love this Marilyn but they don’t charge anything. All of the ATM machines that I have used never charges you anything for the use of the ATM.
Well if you want a Tico experiance I might be interested. My wife a Tica and I will be in CR for mothers day on the 14th and then we leave on the 21st. Many times we meet people from the U.S. and bring them home for a nice tico dinner. (Last time we met a man that at one time was a player in the Knicks basket ball team in the middle of San Jose.)
Good information Gr,
How ever I see that you didn’t include the rest of the system of the health care. I view health care as a whole! Meaning Drugs, insurance, doctors, nurses, people that are involved in the making the health care run like the manufactures of health care products and every thing else that has health in the name.
We seen it in the airline industry when a screw cost 100 dollars or a toilet cost a million dollars. Now a needle cost how much? I wonder how much a bed pan cost in the hospital? I know the meals are out rage sly expensive. Did you know in CR you can bring your own food to the hospital?
The difference is that the U.S. culture wants the best but doesn’t want to pay for it. When the airline industry gave their workers the best health care and the best pension plans what happened when they had to compete with airlines that didn’t offer that? Look at NW, Delta, Us air, United and American. When the U.S. labor is upset because their health care benefits raise they go bonkers but don’t want to accept that their employer is picking up the lions share of the tab. Government and private industries state that the two major factors of their budget it Pension and Health Care.
Most companies are starting to cut out health care and pensions look at GM, Ford and the restructuring airlines and thousands of small companies. What is the out look for the retirees of these companies?
The main reason is because every one that is associated with the U.S. health care makes big dollars compared to other countries and the wages of the health care workers. When a doctor in the U.S. makes a six figure income, a sales rep for a drug company makes the same amount, a insurance clerk making 15 dollars a hour this erodes the health care industry and creates high prices. My question is when the baby boomers come in full force who will pay for the health care? When the insurance becomes 1500-2000 a month?
Now I am not trying to ditch the employees because every one wants the plasma screen TVs and nice 3 car garage home but at what point is the consumer willing to pay for these nice things. The consumer is the person that pays the health care industry and will make decisions like the consumer in the airline industry! Today in the Star and Trib was a article of companies paying employees to have surgery in other countries for the cost factor. They paid all expenses and gave them a percentage of the savings the company made! The doctors were all U.S. educated!
Again I don’t want to ditch the employees but some day everyone will have to feel the pinch because we can’t keep up at this pace.
This is why people are looking at the alternatives and countries like CR will provide that. Doctors don’t make huge amounts of money, nurses make much less than in the U.S. and they don’t have huge insurance companies like the U.S. It is also not fare to compare because CR is half the size of MN with the same amount of people, so it is like apples and bananas!hahaha, Joseph you like to play the devils child like me.
You defiantly brought out the best in people in this forum!How ever you have too be careful because some of us are not gringos that are upset with today’s political climate and just looking for another woodstock to run too. Some people might be upset with the Liberal U.S. where you can’t say the pledge of allegiance or spank your child because it is too politically in correct! I don’t believe this word politically in correct is in the tico language hahaha
Then there is the small minority of us that are married to Costa Ricans that have to move back for family reasons and do so with our tennis shoes a running!Any ways you have some good points and misconceptions and hope you enjoy your visit to CR!
Yes, I would have to agree with the previous post you should just wing it. Too much to see and this is a very safe inviroment compared to Ven. Most of the hotels can point you to the car rentals and if you are planing on doing the tourist rout you won’t have any problems.
Most of the young ticos do speak some english so you won’t have problems any ways.I know I don’t have too much experiance with Germany but I have been there a couple times in the last couple of years. I do have a question because I did meet a lot of people and did a informal pole.
On the trains,bars and public I would strik up conversations many times I found my self talking with people that were not german. (this was about 90% of the time) I would ask were they going to stay in Germany, How did they like living in Germany. Most of these people were from the old eastern block countrys but some were from Africa. All of them said they didn’t like Germany and they were only there for the free education. They said they could not get high paying jobs because they were prevented by the Germans and they were discriminated against. When asked if they wanted to go to the U.S. 100% of them said that was their end goal. At this moment the German Govermant is having huge financial problems because of their liberal views of social programs. I am just wondering if the people in this blog and tell me what their experiance on this? I would have to say I asked these quesitons about 20 times, I would have to note that most germans would not talk to me if they did they would slam the U.S.Well I would have to differ on what you said about what they say.
I would have to recite gringos are pushy, spoiled, pamperd and think they are the bomb and want to change the culture to their views.
I remember one time my wife and I went to the mall of san padro and a gringa was in the front of a line for some chinees food. She was yelling at the cleark because he didn’t understand what peking duck sauce was.
There are so many topics that I see gringos trying to change CR because they think it is unethical or what ever. Look at the amount of missionarys that come to CR and try to change them to their church.
Personally I like to give the police man 20 dollars for a bribe because I know it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than in the U.S. Have you ever had to pay a car insurance bill years after you had a ticket?
“don’t think that Ticos are loosing jobs to Gringos. Unless we’re married to a Costa Rican, we can’t get work permits. However, they are losing a lot of jobs to Nicaraguans (“Nicas”). It’s said that of the 4 million people in CR, 1 million are Nicas. The funny thing is that this situation almost exactly mirrors what’s happening in the U.S. with Hispanics. Their taking jobs, yes, but mostly jobs Ticos don’t want.”This is some what true because of the work permits but the amount of perpetual tourist or full time tourist that are working is growing. I always have to laugh when I ask a gringo on the beach if they are working in CR. Most of the time the responce is “yes i am legal, how ever i have to leave the country every 90 days”. For me it is just funny because its the same issues that the states is having with undocumented immigrants that come under touist visas and stay past their time.
People always ask me can I get a high paying job because I am from the U.S and have experiance. I say no way they have a lot of people that have degrees with no jobs and want to protect those jobs.Regarding worth ethics.
This is truely a sterotype because in Minnesota where I grew up we had the midwest work ethics! We always thought that the people on the West coast were lazy because we would leave work at 4:00 even if their job was not done. This of course was not true for every one on the west coast. The same is in CR! If you live in the country life will be much more laid back than in the city.Again this is all personal views and not factual. Just remember enjoy your host nation, embrase the culture and don’t try to change it. Just like when you go camping don’t leave any foot prints! jajajaja
(Just a reminder there is no word Nica, its no like Costa Rians with Tico and Tica its only Nico. I know this because my wife corrected me and she has a masters from the U of CR, I think she speaks the language better than me jajajajaj.)
