Are common prescription medications available in Costa Rica?

"The public system dispenses generic medicines free, and getting them is easy. But on the advice of a private doc, I pay retail for a name brand pill too. It costs me about a third or less the cost in the US. No prescriptions are necessary for most meds, and even when they are, you can sometimes sweet talk your way into buying them in a drug store without a prescription. Probably the cheapest drug store is La Bomba, and it won't budge on selling meds it's not supposed to, but most meds that require a prescription in the US don't need one here. For meds that the drug stores really aren't supposed to sell without prescriptions, I go to a more full service drug store and pay a little more. Specifically, I keep a supply of antibiotics on hand that by law need a prescription but I buy without one. Also, just in the way the system works, I know a drug store that sells the morning after pill, even though it's really not suppose to in a Catholic country," said another expat in San José, Costa Rica.

"If you are enrolled in the CAJA (socialized medicine), prescriptions are free at the local clinic after being prescribed by the CAJA physician. Sometimes generic forms of the medicine are available. If you are on a very specialized prescription, you may need to purchase this at a local pharmacy (farmacia) and you would be required to incur the expense but generally most medicine is available thru the CAJA. If you choose to purchase your prescriptions outside of the CAJA system, there are at least ten farmacias in Jaco and the surrounding area. You will not need a prescription for most any medicine with the exception of intense narcotics. If you need something of that degree, a private care physician can prescribe them for you. Some prescriptions are higher costing than the US such as Allegra, simple asprin, etc. Generally speaking if you can purchase it stateside in a bottle of (for example) 365 pills it is less expensive to do so as packaging here is by individual blister pack pills. Other meds are dramatically less expensive than the states. Resident discounts are generally offered in the amount of 10% at farmacias for local residents," wrote a member who made the move to Playa Jaco, Costa Rica.

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