Expat healthcare in Costa Rica is world?s second best

According to a major international living magazine, Costa Rica is the second best destination on the planet for expat healthcare and medical tourism.

Quality, affordable healthcare is number one for the majority of would-be expats looking for the perfect relocation or retirement destination, with fierce competition on the medical and surgical front amongst expatriate hubs as a result. Key points include affordability, professional qualifications of doctors and surgeons and cleanliness of hospitals. In a recent survey, Malaysia took the number one spot, with Costa Rica coming close behind. The country has several decades of experience serving US expats’ and tourists’ medical and surgical needs, with over 40,000 US citizens heading south for high-quality care at low cost in the dental and medical sectors.

Long-term expatriates take full advantage of the low-cost services, paying a small fraction of the costs in their home countries, and Costa Rica's fame is now spreading beyond its northern neighbour to Europe and the rest of the world. Expatriates with pension-supported visas as well as legal residents can gain access to the Costa Rican Social Security Fund as well as a selection of privately-run medical and surgical facilities, a win-win situation for those unable to afford high prices in their own countries.

The system takes into account reported pension and salary incomes made on residency applications, charging between six and 12 per cent of the amount every month. Once the charge is paid, all healthcare is covered, including specialists’ fees, diagnostics and surgeries. The only problems are with waiting times for non-emergency procedures and medical appointments. It’s well-known that expatriates tend to mix and match their healthcare between private and public services, thus getting the best of both worlds at a very reasonable cost. For medical tourism, the advice given is that the best private and public specialists and the best hospitals are all found in San Jose, although there are facilities spread all over the country.