Accessible prices and good assistance: these are the aspects of the Costa Rican Health System which make an American doctor shine when compared to the rest of the world. ‘‘This Texan doctor says that the Costa Rican Health System outshines that from the United States’’.
This is how an article, that has gone around the world, is titled and which was published by media of the scale of International Living and CNBC. Doctor John Michael Arthur narrates his experience when he took his neighbor, an elderly male, to a clinic at La Caja.
‘‘Even though the room was full of people waiting for their turn, they generously guided us to the front of the line’’.
The elderly man was immediately evaluated by a doctor. They performed an electrocardiogram to detect electric problems with his heart, they stabilized him and later took him to a hospital in about 30 minutes. There his heart attack was treated. ‘‘I had never seen such quick reaction when I was working in the United States’’, said the doctor.
‘‘Counting out some foreign nations, Costa Rica has nothing to worry about, the latest generation services are available in every branch of Medicine and Dentistry’’. The doctor points out that there is an Ebais in every community. But he also speaks about private medicine.
‘‘Everything is from 30% to 70% cheaper than the prices in the United States or Canada. And it is certified by Joint Commission International. That is the gold standard of Health assistance. Many hospitals in the United States do not receive that kind of certification’’.
The doctor assures in his article that the waiting time at La Caja is similar to the ones in the United States in a specialist consultation.
International media like CNBC has previously praised the health services in Costa Rica. They placed them in second place only after Malaysia. About 40,000 Americans travel to Costa Rica as medical tourists.
Note: We know that not all experiences will be as this one but it is fair to point out certain differences in medical services from around the world.