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[quote=”2bncr”] The question one should ask of anyone who says the caja is great is “if you could have private insurance that allowed you to choose your doctor with the same benefits as Caja insurance, which would you choose.” Unfortunately, most who say the caja is great/good are those who cannot afford private insurance.
Now I am not slamming those who cannot afford private insurance.
I am just saying they have a prejudice because that is what they can afford.[/quote]
When we first moved to Costa Rica we decided to give the CAJA a try since we were required to pay for it whether we used it or not.
Since moving to Costa Rica my wife has suffered two unrelated cancers, heart blockages requiring stents, fibromyalgia, diabetes, arthritis and gout plus many issues as a result of chemotherapy for cancer.Whether we could affors private insurance with all of their limits on pre-conditions or not I cannot answer.
What complainers do not mention is the rate of malpractice, missed diagnoses and mistakes in prescriptions that are made in the States. My mother died as a result of prescription errors after surgery in the States.
Not everyone is willing to find out how to work within the CAJA system as we have nor are they willing to admit that things go wrong wherever you are.
[quote=”2bncr”]Any surgery is a gamble but if I was seriously ill I will use my international coverage to high tail it back to a developed country and take my chances there. No doubt in my mind.
That includes the touted private hospitals here too. I had an emergency surgery in Cima and the jackass anisthiologist collapsed my lung.
In my opinion: Ticos are children playing grown-up games.
I have been here a long time, your mileage may vary.[/quote]
The medical staff in Costa Rica, from specialists to nurses, is educated either at the University of Costa Rica or at universities in the States or Europe. They are as good as you will find in “the developed world”.
I have yet to meet a CAJA doctor who has not spent time in the U.S. or Europe in an internship or practice.The CAJA hospital San Juan de Dios is one of the top cancer centers in the world. My wife’s heart surgeon, along with another doctor in Brazil, developed a method of placing multiple stents in the heart in one surgical operation.
Her oncologist and heart surgeon have private practices as well as working in the CAJA.[quote=”TerriC”]Hello,
Can anyone direct me to some information about health care costs while living in Costa Rica? Do you still need to buy medical insurance? What is the quality of health care available? Any information would be appreciated
Thanks,
Terri[/quote]See what you can find out about the national health care system. Unlike many expats my wife and I use the CAJA and are quite satisfied with it. I believe it is on a par with the private health care system.
CAJA has found ways to effectively reduce cost of care through non-duplication of technology, use of dormitories rather than private rooms. Together we pay less than $100 per month and have found ways to bypass the delays and long waiting lines that it seems most expats are unwilling to explore.Private health care is available through insurance or by paying cash for services.
Altogether, Costa Rica is a top medical tourism destination which should tell you much in itself.
[quote=”Scott”] I believe we expats thinks we are a lot more important than we actually are. I understand that many of us have purchased real estate but unless we are starting a business here and employing Costa Ricans, our overall contribution to the Costa Rican economy is fairly trivial.
Many retired people have more time on their hands than they did in the past and they begin to look around them at “how things work” and when that happens – in whatever country – they will dig up things they don’t like…
Scott[/quote]
We expats are guests in Costa Rica unless and until we attain citizenship and as such we contribute very little to the tax base here. We are on about the same contribution level as the Tico attorneys, private doctors and politicians who live off the backs of the poor.
I hear arguments about how we contribute to the economy through land purchases and construction but they are one-time purchases and the resulting property taxes are quite low. Anything else we purchase is subject to a 13% sales tax. As far as hiring help, try offering $2.00 an hour to get any kind of help in the States.
Costa Rica would be well off with a progressive income tax system that includes taxation of any untaxed income that expats bring into Costa Rica including Social Security income.
Knowing that politicians in Costa Rica are no different than those in the States who are among the least intelligent of people and in their positions to see how much they can gain by greed, graft and bribery I have little hope of seeing intelligent change. 😆
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]Good point, maravilla. As Yogi Berra once observed, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
I wonder how many apparently approvable applications are ever actually rejected and never approved. Mayhaps this is a solution to a problem they don’t have?[/quote]
Living in a process oriented society you have to wonder if every possible glitch would ever be found and resolved. The idea of going back to the beginning of a process with every problem encountered does guarantee a lot of jobs, particularly with Migracion.
I received these additional thoughts from my attorney this morning:
“When filing a Constitutional case that´s the first thing you ask for, to remain in the country until there´s a final resolution.
I know someone who applied for residency, married to a tica (real marriage) it took over a year for Immigration to approve his residency, about a month before it was approved he wanted to go to Panama, in the end he couldn´t because of that very same reason, but the only thing they did, was give him a document addressed to Immigration basically saying why they were taking so long, guess what happened after that, it was approved.
[b]I guess it also has to do with the person you ran into, either if they wake up on the right or left side of their bed, sad but true, there´s no unified criteria when it comes to these kind of matters.
I would not take the chance to give you a yes/no answer on something like this.[/b]
Best advice is for them to stay away from any immigration stand while the residency is in process, unless they actually want or have for other reason leave every 90 days.”
[quote=”stevezim”]Anybody have any experience with chelation therapy to clean the calcium out of the arteries? I found a Dr. Solano that does this therapy at CIMA but haven’t contacted him/her yet. Do you know of any other doctors that do this in Costa Rica? If you did the chelation therapy what were your results?
Thanks,
Steve Zimmerman
Tuis de Turrialba[/quote]There are a lot of treatments that apparently work but the medical industry doesn’t recognize and some that are pure quackery.
I have no idea whether chelation therapy works or not but there is a good pharmocology read at [url=http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chelationpharm.html]The Pharmacology of Chelation Therapy[/url]The name of the site is Quack Watch and this article is under Quackery Related Topics.
[url=http://nccam.nih.gov/health/chelation/]Questions and Answers: The NIH Trial of EDTA Chelation Therapy for Coronary Artery Disease[/url]
Doing a search using “chelation therapy calcium arteries” will bring numerous sites with information.
[quote=”costaricafinca”]Why then, did your attorney not file in your case, since it took 29 months, and [i]”Migracion has a legal obligation to either approve or deny an application within 90 days”?[/i][/quote]
I was never threatened with expulsion. Under the conditions that your friends have encountered in country she would have.
My wife had already been approved with essentially the same documentation so it was just a matter of time.
It seems that it is a matter of a roll of the dice which Tecnico is going to review your documentation and what they view as something out of order.
Mine was reviewed by three different Tecnicos who seemed to see something amiss and sent my file up to the office of the Director who approved in each instance. The fourth Tecnico went through the whole thing and found no problems so I was approved.[quote=”costaricabill”]I hope it is BS, but I heard it from 3 different [/quote]
Apparently it is true.
This from my attorney:
Immigration is a magic box, I knew they would eventually do that, BUT on the other hand that happens because they do not have a resolution within 90 days which is what the law indicates, regardless if they don´t have enough resources, people or whatever they need, it´s their obligation. If anyone ever is in that position [b]I would file a Constitutional case[/b], because they´re basically punishing the applicant for their delays.You can take my attorneys word to heart. If she has a client who is caught in this position she [b]WILL[/b] file a Constitutional case. [b]Migracion has a legal obligation to either approve or deny an application within 90 days[/b]:D
I was in process for 29 months and never had a problem with Fuerza Publica and COSEVI who were running regular stop operations in Ciudad Colon during late 2007 and early 2008 and never gave me a problem because I had my CR drivers license so I doubted the story.
[quote=”costaricabill”] Also, 2 friends were detained for several hours here in Samara last week during a check for illegals. They had their passports and entramite, but had been in country for more than 90 days. The explanation given to them was that even though you are “in process”, there is no assurance that you will be approved for residency. So if you are not approved and have been here more than 90 days, then you would be in the country illegally; hence, the need to leave every 90 days even while in process.
[/quote]
That is an explanation that doesn’t make sense.I have an excellent attorney who should be up on the current state of the law. I will call her tomorrow and hopefully have an answer for you by tomorrow night.
[quote=”costaricabill”]I heard tonight that there is a new immigracion requirement (or interpretation) that says even if you have a file number and an “entramite” document, you must still leave every 90 days. Does anyone know about this?[/quote]
Sounds like BS to me.
The only national organization that has a 90 day requirement once you have the tramite is the COSEVI. You are required to obtain a Costa Rican drivers license within the 90 day period.Where did you hear this?
[quote=”Scott”]Mel Gibson and now Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt Moving to Costa Rica[/quote]
Please Lord, let them be far, far from us. 🙄
[quote=”gelman13″]Does anyone have any information or experience in importing construction equipment (backhoes, Bobcats, etc) from the US for my own use in CR? Is it allowed? I am going to be doing land preparation (on my own land)in CR, and want to avoid buying equipment in CR which I already own in the US. I intend to sell it in CR when I am done with it, if it is allowed. Any help would be appreciated[/quote]
Charlie Zeller has been moving people here for a number of years and can answer any of your questions regarding shipping.
Ship To Costa Rica
Tel: (506) 258-8747
Tel: (866) 245-6923 from US
Fax: (506) 258-7123
E mail: shiptocostarica@racsa.co.cr
Door to door shipping, full containers or consolidated shipping. Household goods, Commercial, Cars-Boats-Anything.[quote=”smekuly”]
it’s states welovecostarica.com and under this guise its often misleading when the owner uses the traffic and membership thats signs up under this we love costa rica theme to be subjected to your american politics. [/quote]I must agree with smekuly that seperaton of our discussion of U.S. politics might be better separated from our responses to those about living in Costa Rica if it is feasable.
I have other sites on which I discuss U.S. politics and economics and as these things affect us here I respond.
I am sure that those who come here for information are looking for direction and have little interest in the situation in the U.S. They are living in that mess and probably looking for escape rather than a rehash of our opinions.:lol:
[quote=”laika”][quote=”maravilla”]call the 900 number about 3 weeks before the expiration date. and yes, you can renew at BCR — you have to tell immigration which office you want the appt to be at. the whole process took less than 15 minutes when my husband renewed a few weeks ago.[/quote]
Many thanks for your input. I had heard that it would take more than a year, hence my early concern.[/quote]
I am due to renew in May 2012 and have a number direct to BCR to set an appointment. The number provided may be missing a number [(800) 227-27-82] which I am going to verify in the morning.
I will post in the morning whether the number is correct or not.
[quote=”aguirrewar”]Maybe it is time to:
Occupy “La Casa Presidencial”[/quote]
y Edificio Central.
Tal vez es momento para una revolución.
Suena muy bien a mí![img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qeFj6hrW1io/TdkG7gcJ_JI/AAAAAAAAAOU/G0r24LZduek/s1600/Sin+Casa%252C+Sin+Trabajo%252C+Sin+Futuro%252C+Sin+Miedo+15M+Spanish+revolution.jpg[/img]
