Costa Rica Medical Tourism 

With great pleasure we present to you a Guest Blog post that talks about an issue near and dear to everyone’s hearts…

THE HIGH COST OF MEDICAL CARE IN THE UNITED STATES!

As locals we know first hand that Costa Rica provides good and sometimes better health care than what is available in North America.  The cost of health care in Costa Rica is also significantly less than North America and Europe – sometimes up to 70% cheaper.

Why doesn’t everyone come down to Costa Rica for Health Care then, you ask? 

The answer is – We Don’t Know! 

Why you wouldn’t want to get the same or better level of care for cheaper AND be able to convalesce on some of the nicest beaches and resort and hotel facilities in the entire world.

Obviously those of us lucky enough to live in Costa Rica already know how good we have it over our Northern Neighbors for cost and quality of health care.

Well our Guest blogger Kenneth Wilson, Ph.D and his company Medical Traveler Costa Rica have dedicated themselves to showing their clients that there is a better alternative to paying exorbitant health care bills.

Here is their story…

Welcome to Medical Traveler Costa Rica. We specialize in providing medical travel facilitation services to individuals looking for affordable, high-quality medical and dental care as well as medical travel programs for employers interested in optimizing healthcare benefits.

Medical Traveler Costa Rica was founded by a team of seasoned professionals with more than 60 years of combined experience in medicine and business. Our management team includes a Kenneth Wilson an experienced Ph.D. and Douglas Leland a Fortune 50 international business executive, complemented by a staff of experienced facilitation specialists. 

We bring together our unique and diverse knowledge in the service of our clients to find the highest quality healthcare services available from the most qualified physicians at the best possible prices.

Medical Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide.  According to a study by Deloite and Touche the annual growth rate for medical tourism is between 10-15% for the next 5 years.  Costa Rica medical tourism is booming, treating over 48,000 international patients a year.  Medical travel continues to play an important role in the health care industry and local economies.

The primary driver behind this growth is simple. Significantly lower costs, combined with faster and easier access and an overall higher level of quality. The cost savings can be as high as 90%, and on average is between 50% to 70% depending on the medical procedure and the medical tourism destination. 

We are also seeing a shift in corporate benefit programs. U.S. employers, like PepsiCo, Lowes and Wal-Mart, “are modifying their benefit structure to incentivize their employees to seek the most effective care at their local airport, rather than their local hospital. The reasons include cost and better outcomes

What makes Costa Rica medical tourism stand out?

Quality Medical Care:  Costa Rica has invested heavily in healthcare over the past two decades, resulting in a large number of highly educated and experienced qualified physicians covering the complete spectrum of medical specialties and three JCI accredited hospitals.  Many people do not realize that Costa Rica ranks 36th on the World Health Organizations healthcare quality indices, ahead of the United States and 1st by a wide margin in Central America.

Affordable Prices:  Advancements in modern medicine are evolving rapidly and offer the promise of dramatically extending and improving the quality of our lives. Unfortunately the rising costs of medical care makes many life enhancing procedures prohibitively expensive. Costa Rica is helping address this need, offering medical services costing 50% to 70% less than the same procedure in North American hospital and putting life changing medical within the reach of more people. 

Location: Costs Rica has many advantages over other medical tourism destinations when it comes to fast and easy travel. No medical traveler looks forward to long trans-oceanic flights, onerous customs and immigration policies and long lines. The combination of readily available direct flights from major American travel hubs, simple customs and immigration policies means the majority of medical tourists can arrive at their destination within a few hours of travel without changing time zones and no customs and immigration hassles.

Spectacular Travel Destination:  And when it comes to the vacation part of your trip, Costa Rica stands well above the rest. Whether you’re enjoying time with your family before the procedure or enjoying a relaxing recovery in one of our exotic locations, Costa Rica has everything you are looking for in a world class tourist destination. There’s a good reason why the New York Times ranks Costa Rica as a top tourist destination for 2012 and why Costa Rica ranks #1 on the New Economic Forums Happy Planet Index. A temperate climate, beautiful flora and fauna, rich biodiversity, incredibly geography and a pristine coastline on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans offer something amazing for everyone.

At Medical Traveler Costa Rica we understand that medical tourism is a life changing decision made more complicated and confusing by the volume of conflicting information available. This is a decision you no longer need to make alone. 

We provide comprehensive information on the complete range of dental, cosmetic, orthopedic, bariatric and ophthalmologic medical services available. Our knowledgeable Costa Rica Medical Tourism specialists will guide you through the process and answer all your questions. 

Our physicians are among the best in the country, board certified and equally experienced as their peers in the United States and Canada.  And we will work closely with you to find the best physician for you needs.

We will also assist you and your friends or family in booking a room in a peaceful recovery retreat, where your post-operative condition can be professionally monitored and special customized diets are available. 

We guarantee you will receive the finest care and attention before, during and after your visit.

Our goal is to make the process incredibly easy.

Contact

www.medicaltravelercr.com

“Why Costa Rica?” you ask.  Well, when we read the story you are about to read below we were first of all blown away at the quality of the writing and more importantly very pleased to hear a clear and concise first hand story from the perspective of what we would consider a very typical scenario that occurred over the last 10 years in this area of Costa Rica…

Fall in love – Make some money – Fall in love all over again.

This story is written by our good friend Stuart Sanders with the main cast his wife Katie and their family. Stuart and his family have owned various properties in our area and as you will read, never lost their love for Costa Rica.

Enjoy….

PS – Stuart and Katie are the ones in Red.

WHY COSTA RICA?

Part One

When we rave about Costa Rica, friends and acquaintances in North America who have not been here inevitably ask: “Of all the countries you could pick, why Costa Rica?”

I answer, honestly, “It all began with my fifth grade project.”

More decades ago than I care to acknowledge, I was randomly assigned Costa Rica as the Latin American country I had to profile for the rest of the class. Even at age ten, it struck me as really cool that this little country had no military, health care for all its citizens and had traditions of literacy and democracy that rivaled our own. Not only that, but with a population only about one percent of America’s, they often kicked our butts in soccer.

My interest in Costa Rica gestated, like a cicada underneath the ground, for thirty-five years until I found myself a parent of children aged twelve, fourteen and seventeen, and we sought a place for a family vacation that would combine beaches, adventures, and natural beauty.

All three children played for a soccer club in New Jersey that had trainers from Central America. We befriended several of them off the field and recognized something interesting. The trainers from Honduras and Guatemala and Mexico were so delighted to be in New Jersey it was as though they had survived a crash; they had no desire to return to their countries of birth unless it was to visit a close relative for a short time. The Costa Rican trainers, however, were pleased to work with our youngsters, but all of them wanted only to make enough money to return as soon as possible to what they described as paradise. Retirement for them would be in Costa Rica.

Part Two

Fast forward several months to August, 2003. I am stuck at my law office in New Jersey, overwhelmed with too many house closings to get away, as my family travels to Costa Rica without me. I know they are visiting San Jose and then somewhere on the Pacific Coast. In those ancient days before smart-phones and I-pads, it is several days before I hear from them other than hurriedly written e-mails from internet cafes where half the letters appear not to work and punctuation marks are random#@%&.

A call comes in while I am at my desk, and I hear my wife’s disembodied voice speaking excitedly on a scratchy cell-phone connection.

“We’re looking out at the Pacific Ocean,” says Katie. “Building lots are cheap. You wouldn’t believe what you can have for $90,000 and…”

“Whoa, wait a minute,” I say. “What did you say? Can you speak more slowly?”

“Sorry,” she says, and continues, clearly: “We’re at a town called Playa Hermosa, and I asked the driver to stop at a real estate development that overlooks the ocean. There are three lots that look great. Halfway up the mountain is an acre for $90,000 and on the TOP of the mountain is a two-acre lot for $170,000. The third one is at the bottom. No view, but it’s only $25,000 This place is gorgeous. The kids are amazed. It’s indescribable.”

I’m not sure what impulse controlled my usually cautious brain. Perhaps, it was the exhilaration in Katie’s voice. Perhaps, it was the realization that life has to offer more thrills than talking on the telephone to nervous people in New Jersey trying to buy their first home. Whatever the motivation, I said immediately: “Buy the top two.”

“What?” she said, stunned. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” I said. “Do it.” It just felt right.

Part Three

Over the next several days, Katie and the children plowed through meetings with a Spanish-speaking lawyer and the developer and entered a contract to purchase the two lots. Though several friends and relatives thought we had lost our minds, we scheduled a visit over New Year’s, 2004, for the two of us to see the lots together and plan how to proceed.

We flew initially to San Jose, since Liberia was not easily reachable from the US (there might have been one flight a week at that time). We enjoyed a B & B in Escazu for several days before traveling to the Pacific side. I was still mentally processing the fascination of Costa Rica, from the people, to the diverse topography, to the excellent food and fruit when I saw the brilliant blue water at Hermosa for the first time. I will never forget the thrill.

We drove up to our lots. Katie was concerned I might not agree that we’d made a good decision. However, the moment I saw the “million dollar” views that we’d purchased for a small fraction of what a tired cape cod would cost in New Jersey, I was delighted. After some deliberation, we chose to build on the lower lot and hold the upper lot. While it had a 270-degree view over the Pacific and the Bay of Culebra, the road to the top of the mountain was daunting, and I was not sure I’d enjoy an adventure every time we needed to descend.

We arranged to meet several builders. The first two went by the company names of “Sun Bum Building” and “Frat Boy Construction.” Neither inspired confidence. The third was a local woman disinclined to return phone calls. Finally, we met a former Californian who had been building in Costa Rica for a decade and whose wife would assist with design, furniture and landscaping.

With our new, only-in-Costa Rica philosophy of “try anything” (for me, this meant zip-lining over a gorge, diving off a cliff, off-roading on an ATV, shaking hands with a monkey, and communing with an iguana – involves a lot of hissing) we encouraged the builder’s wife in designing a house with numerous features that she’d always wanted to try, but people rarely agreed to, namely: several interior gardens; a waterfall in the dining room; a cashew-shaped infinity pool with newly-developed translucent tile; and a roof that “floated” dramatically above the house.

We were having so much fun designing that we did not know the builder cleared the lot and began laying the foundation before we had technically become the owners.

“Can they do that?” Katie asked, after our home fax machine revealed a photograph of the construction site.

“Not in New Jersey,” I said.

Actually, you can’t do it in Costa Rica, either, but….

We did close on both lots shortly thereafter and, with Tres Amigos Realty’s help, re-sold the top lot for enough profit to pay for the construction on the lower lot. In two months, we doubled our money, much to the shock of some nay-saying friends and relatives. We immensely enjoyed the building process throughout 2004, running to the fax machine to see pictures every few weeks and visiting the site when we could. The house was finished on time and on budget by early 2005, and we used it just as we’d envisioned during the next year, visiting often as a family, and with friends.

We learned something, however. When you see a house worthy of appearing on the cover of Architectural Digest, it does not necessarily mean all the plumbing and electricity work exactly as hoped. Also, putting live gardens and a waterfall inside a house in a humid climate may be workable under certain circumstances, but not for owners who are not present full-time. Finally, repeated visits with three teen-aged children, plus friends, blew out the travel budget.

I would like to claim I was a genius who foresaw the coming downturn in the financial and real estate markets. But I didn’t. The foregoing factors simply compelled us to list the house for sale in early 2006. Mike Simons found a buyer promptly, and we doubled our investment again. (It must be emphasized that the period from 2003-2006 was almost uniquely rewarding. Lucky timing is always a good thing).

Part Four

Though we were happy with our profits, memories and photo albums, everyone in our family felt an emotional loss in selling our home in Costa Rica. The children spoke of it longingly, even as their high school and college schedules would have prevented them from going together in any event.

I was acutely aware, however, as a closing attorney, prices for houses were falling. When people asked if we missed our house in Costa Rica, the answer from 2007 until recently, often started out with “yes, but considering the state of the real estate market….”

This past summer, history repeated itself. Our youngest child, Sam, had just graduated from college in May, thus ending our tuition obligations FOREVER. As a gift, we offered him a weeklong trip to the destination of his choice, and he picked Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the only week he could travel before the start of graduate school was while I was scheduled to be at a writing conference, having retired from the law practice.

Katie took him alone to a resort in Playa Panama. We never discussed it, but it was tacitly understood she would try to spend an afternoon with Mike Simons. Well, anyone who reads this knows what that means.

Katie and Sam walked into the office in Hermosa and Mike happened to be upstairs. “Hey, babe, I’ve got something for you,” he rasped, having just suffered a near-death illness the day before (as he recounted in his blog several months ago). Although he should have been resting in bed, Mike insisted on taking his unscheduled customers to see Pacifico.

“This will be perfect,” he whispered, showing the sales literature where three-bedroom units formerly sold for $450,000 were now listed newly finished at a price of $270,000.

When Katie saw Pacifico in the town of Coco, which she remembered from seven years earlier as somewhat on the dusty side, she could not believe the transformation. A gleaming commercial center ushers visitors and residents into a Shangri-la of beauty. Mike suggested a particular unit that combined privacy with spaciousness and helped negotiate favorable terms for us with the management office. We became homeowners in Costa Rica again.

This time, however, all three children are capable of visiting on their own. Our particular circumstances now allow significantly more usage of the property, and we deem the loss of an ocean view from our own living room as a reasonable sacrifice for having a team of professionals responsible for multiple pools, landscaping, irrigation, operation of the gate and security. Pacifico provides all of that along with an elegant beach club and the priceless ability to WALK into an increasingly vibrant town with restaurants, shopping and the beach. For private sunsets, it’s an easy walk or ride up the hill in Pacifico. We brought our 24-year-old daughter down with us recently and asked her what she thought. She answered in one word: “Paradise.”

Different readers have different circumstances, of course. For some, an individual house may be preferable. Regardless, we feel confident we have caught another favorable wave in the real estate market. It may not become the tsunami of 2003-2006; even Mike would not guarantee that, I think, but conditions appear favorable. And we could not be happier with our purchase and Mike’s assistance.

Pura Vida,

Stuart Sanders

www.stuartsandersblog.wordpress.com