Expat Community > Costa Rica

shermanwc
Joined 2012
Posts: 896

Quality of CR Public Health Care

9 years ago

Here is a typical article extolling the high quality and low cost of healthcare in Costa Rica:

http://www.mymedholiday.com/country/costa-rica/article/304/healthcare-system-quality-in-costa-rica

Certainly some of what it says is true – but what does it not tell you?

First, it should be noted that the article says that CR provides “free medical services to all its citizens”. That is not true - citizens and legal residents must pay into a Social Security system with costs based on a percentage of income; medical services are then provided at “no additional cost”. And the cost for legal residents can be higher than many might expect – as much as $442 per month for the government provided healthcare. Many Expats opt to buy additional private health insurance or opt to self-pay for private healthcare, which can add significantly more cost. It may still result in a reasonable overall cost compared to many other countries, but many people coming to CR are surprised to find it a bit more expensive than they had expected.

The article says that hospitals and clinics are constantly upgraded – perhaps, but the public hospitals still need a lot of upgrading to come up to “first world” healthcare standards. Often the public hospitals simply do not have the capacity to meet all of the healthcare needs of its residents and citizens. On the other hand, the private hospitals do provide the kind of high quality healthcare that many Expats expect.

Often routine healthcare provided by the government medical services system is sufficient and reasonable cost. But for non-routine health issues, the government healthcare system seems to fall apart.

I have gathered several stories related to public hospital care that I have seen on Expat discussion groups or in news articles which clearly show severe problems with the healthcare provided in each example:

A Tico with a broken arm was told that he would have to wait 12 days to have the arm set. A Tico with a crushed ankle was told he had to wait 3 weeks to have surgery. An Expat with a broken wrist had to wait 22 days for surgery. An Expat with a broken tendon in their thumb had to waiting 14 days for surgery. An Expat with a crushed arm spent two days in a public hospital with no direct care and then was told it might take 2 weeks - she left and went to a private hospital.

A tourist had severe damage to their hand due to an accident and went to a public hospital. The hospital gave her no pain medication or antibiotics while she was there. The windows in the hospital room had visible mold. She ended up transferring to a private hospital to ensure the proper care needed to save her hand.

An expat called for an ambulance at midnight – he was told that it would be several hours before one could be sent due to other emergencies.

An 85-year old man diagnosed with prostrate cancer was told he is too old for treatment under public healthcare.

A cardiologist at a public hospital recently (April 2015) said that 141 patients have died in the past 18 months while on the waiting list for treatment.

And finally, there was a news article that said that a pregnant woman wanting to schedule an ultrasound was given an appointment 9 months later!

Conclusion: If you want to be assured of receiving quality healthcare in CR, plan to use private care facilities in addition to the public healthcare system!

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Quality of CR Public Health Care

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