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My husband and I will be relocating permanently to Costa Rica in May. Our rentista has been approved so we will be covered by CAJA once we finish both registrations. We are also contemplating getting INS coverage but are having a difficult time deciding on the Regional or Regional International, which is 4000 per year for both of us. My husband will be traveling back to the states periodically, but we could always purchase a travel policy for that. My question is, how is the Costa Rican healthcare system for treating diseases such as cancer, heart disease, ets. We are healthy now, but you never know. I have full confidence in Cancer Centers in the States, but not sure if the treatment would be up to par in Costa Rica. Any opinions on that? Any personal experience?
1. Costa Rica Health Care System Helped Retired Gringa with Breast Cancer – Video interview with Les Waggoner (9 of 10) [ https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/2752.cfm ]
2. Watch the video at: [ https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/2278.cfm ] to hear
how David and his wife from Colorado have been living in Costa Rica for three years and they “love it, love it.” When it comes to groceries, David says how they can find “everything but King crab’s legs” here and “we’ll live here until we die so we love it here”David’s wife is undergoing treatment for cancer, “my wife’s undergoing cancer treatment here, we love the medical system and everything about it…”
3. You might also take a look at our new website at [ http://www.costaricahospital.com/ ] for a few of the Doctors we know personally and for a few “personal experiences.”
Scott
[quote=”diecha”] My question is, how is the Costa Rican healthcare system for treating diseases such as cancer, heart disease, ets. We are healthy now, but you never know. I have full confidence in Cancer Centers in the States, but not sure if the treatment would be up to par in Costa Rica. Any opinions on that? Any personal experience?[/quote]
The doctors and treatment are as good in Costa Rica as they are in the States. Doctors are educated in the States, Europe or at the University of Costa Rica utilizing the English language.My wife and I depend solely on Caja and our cost is approximately $100 per month combined.
She was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in January 2009 and had a lumpectomy, 33 radiaton therapy treatments and is cancer free. Followup visits are every three months.
I suffered appendicitis rupture, peritonitis and hernia last November and consider my care and treatment to be excellent.Cost saving strategies include:
In the hospitals there are no private rooms. They utilize men’s and women’s suites consisting of four dormitories each, each dormitory contains eight to ten beds.
Each suite shift is staffed by a doctor, charge nurse, 1 nurse plus nurses aides per dormitory plus labor crew for cleaning and general assistance.If you have further questions that I might be able to answer you may PM me.
Thank you for your reply. That definitely makes me feel better. I would not doubt the Doctors are as good as in the States. Do you feel that the technology is also as good, such as the equipment, etc.? Thanks so much for your input. I would prefer to remain in CR if treatment is necessary, as well as saving $2000 per year on premiums if we get INS as supplemental to CAJA. Do you live in San Jose or a remote area? We will be in Playa Bejuco on the Central Pacific.
This only 2 instances of treating cancer, so please do not make the mistake in thinking that the care you need may be easy to procure here. Two friends have recently passed here after suffering terribly from cancer, one that had to return to the US for chemo and treatment and one that CAJA could not provide what was needed, in time. Two years to wait for prostate surgery.
Doctors and hospitals with CAJA are generally good but you are usually put on a long waiting list….and get used to waiting in long lines to see a doctor. You cannot chose your doctor or clinic you attend.
CAJA in an emergency does a good job.
The private facilities are excellent…but you will pay.Yes, that is why I asked, because I have heard of patients having to go back to the states for treatment. I want to make sure I consider all possibilities. Thanks.
[quote=”diecha”] Do you feel that the technology is also as good, such as the equipment, etc.? I would prefer to remain in CR if treatment is necessary, as well as saving $2000 per year on premiums if we get INS as supplemental to CAJA. Do you live in San Jose or a remote area? We will be in Playa Bejuco on the Central Pacific.[/quote]
We live about 10 miles due west of San Jose in Ciudad Colon. If you use Google Earth you can find our general location by searching for “villa colon costa rica”.
Our experience is with Hospital San Juan de Dios in San Jose and they are equipped with all the modern technology including nuclear medicine.
One of the cost saving factors in Caja is very little duplication of technology. San Juan de Dios is the primary surgical hospital in our area For me, surgery and after care was only there. For my wife’s cancer the surgey was performed at San Juan de Dios and her radiation therapy was at Hospial Mexico.
We both wear glasses and while the optometrist was at San Juan de Dios the optician services and glasses were obtained at Hospital Calderon Guardia.Finding your way around can be an issue if you don’t speak fluent Spanish. We are not yet fluent in speaking Spanish but we have a Tica friend who assists us in obtaining appointments and finding our way around.
[quote=”diecha”]Yes, that is why I asked, because I have heard of patients having to go back to the states for treatment. I want to make sure I consider all possibilities. Thanks.[/quote]
Costaricafincas statement “Two years to wait for prostate surgery.” is not what we experienced. Donna was in the hospital for breast cancer surgery in under two weeks, waiting only for bed space. In general life threatening issues get primary consideration. I don’t know the circumstance of the situations that finca speaks of so I can’t comment on them.
If you have an appointment and you particular doctor has been called on an emergency you have to wait until the emergency is taken care of first. Donna experiened that for the first time last week after two years of follow-up and had to wait three hours before she was seen.
I had experienced the same type of issue with Kaiser-Permanente in the States.
Most expats who use the insured private care here do so because they want private rooms and private care and have the resources to pay for it.
My husband was told, possibly two years wait.
We didn’t wait, and received excellent care at the Hospital La Catolica.
I have posted earlier of the quick treatment I received at the emergency of a CAJA hospital, after receiving multiple fractures of my pelvis plus other injuries following an accident. The immediate treatment was fine, although the radiologist missed an additional fracture, but the ‘follow up’ care while completely bedridden for two months in bed, and when I returned to the hospital as requested, was a farce.The doctor at the first hospital I had been admitted to, had issued instructions to our local CAJA doctor to check in after two-three weeks to remove the catheter, and see that other open wounds were healing, but he wouldn’t come until we realized he had just opened a private practice, so when he knew would be paid, he came after 3 weeks. Yes, he removed the catheter but we had to provide the plastic gloves! My friend had to sterilize the catheter, as he hadn’t brought a replacement in case it had to be re-placed if there was a problem. My ‘nurse’ had purchased some ‘over the counter’ ointment for a fungal/yeast infection under my breasts which didn’t help the problem, caused from the heat and position I had had to lie in. He prescribed a cream which made the problem grow to 4 times the size, due to the moisture in the ointment. Eventually found something that worked, including foot powder…but does that sting!
He then agreed that my pain in my legs was due to them showing signs of being atrophied since we hadn’t been shown the correct exercises needed to be done.
He returned the following day, being paid more of course, to provide some treatment on my husband who also had been injured, but was ignoring the problem, since he was trying to deal with me, and again, we had to provide plastic gloves, iodine and cotton wool, etc.
After insisting that I return to the admitting hospital after the two months but mainly to pick up the original x-rays, meaning a two hours drive on mostly gravel road, and after not being able to sit at all, I was in agony by the time I got there. After checking in, I had to wait for two hours sitting in a wheel chair, putting extreme pressure on my coccyx or tail bone, which was also injured, where they then took my BP etc. Then rejoined the line. After another 3 hours my nurse/friend who had accompanied us, but they only allow one person with a ‘patient’, asked how much longer did I have to wait, they looked around for my paperwork that they had added my BP information too, and said, ‘we can’t find it’ so you will have to go to the end of the line.
I said, ‘just take me home’ as I still had to face the drive home.
After recuperating for a few days, we went to a private clinic where I had more x-rays and where they found more fractures.
Again, this small CAJA hospital did send me to the Liberia hospital for further tests, but it took a senior nurse who performed the ultrasound due to blood in my urine, to wash and clean all the road gravel from my arms and shoulders.
Maybe I am making a mountain out of a mole hill….Sounds awful. I had decent care at a caja in Nicoya, not great though. The staff was indifferent to good, but it took about 30 hours to see the specialist I needed. When the Dr. Arrived he said they should have just called him, he kind of yelled at the staff. They had told me he was out of town and on his way back so I had to wait.
The follow up care at CIMA was a 10, the Dr.even called me back at 3am when I had a little emergency. He also reversed the treatment the caja Dr.did saying it was not the ideal protocol.
I was ‘lucky’ in a way, that the young doctor who released me the morning after the accident, didn’t agree with the doctor who had told my husband that there was no way I could be transported by ambulance to our home, 2 hours away, not even if we paid for one. My husband asked him ‘how was I to get home, then’? ‘Maybe she can lie in the back of a truck’, he answered. Our pick up was wide, but was it wide enough for me to lay down in, even though I am short…
But the young doctor, said, just wait….and he ‘commandeered an ambulance’ that was taking a non-emergency patient to Liberia and told the driver to detour 20 Kl. to our home.We have heard of several stories of Gringos going to Caja hospitals and having long waits for surgery and other treatments, one of which recently passed away due to lack of care. Personally, I would not relie on the Caja. On the other hand CIMA and a couple other private hospitals are just great (probably better care then in the US). They don’t take Caja payment of course. They do take some US insurances including BCBS. If you don’t have private insurance here, I would go with the Regional plan and not the international one (I can’t imagine the headaches of getting them to pay in the US). With this said for any serious illness or injury, I would avoid the CAJA at all costs but would certainly go to one of the private ones with the most serous issue.
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