Costa Rica, because of its lush greens and deep blue, attracts 2 million tourists each year. Surrounded by water bodies on both east and west coasts, this little country in Central America adopted complete democracy in 1950. Ranking fifth in the Environmental Performance Index, Costa Rica is the first country in America to make it to the list. Whether its misty valleys, cloudy mountain tops, lush green fields, volcanoes, sunshine beaches or deep green forests, Costa Rica has something for everyone.

Over the last few years, Costa Rica has progressed from being just an eco-tourism destination to a country of choice for foreigners, particularly from United States and Canada seeking affordable healthcare. Research reports highlight that American and Canadian medical tourists prefer Latin American countries like Costa Rica due to the shorter travel time, affordable costs and an opportunity for an exotic vacation close to home.

Costa Rica’s medical wealth

The nation is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) for having medical facilities and trained professionals far superior to those in the United States of America. This has witness in the high amount of Americans that regularly visit the country to avail excellent medical facilities at a much affordable fee. Most of these medical visitors are the people who lack medical and dental insurance to cover for their expensive procedures. Among all the medical facilities, the dental services in the hospitals of Costa Rica are the most demanded by visitors each year.

Costa Rica has also paved the way for new hospital set ups as they have started a movement to provide the best possible quality healthcare. They have developed their medical infrastructure by employing efficient surgeons and implementing top-notch equipment.

With 2 JCI accredited hospitals under its belt, Costa Rica is slowly emerging as one the finest medical tourism destinations in the region. Foreign medical tourists keep flocking to Costa Rica as they get an opportunity to combine an eco-friendly vacation with top quality medical care. The country houses modern hospitals and state-of-the-art clinics that utilize the latest medical technologies and employ surgeons trained and certified by North American or European organizations. Quality of Costa Rica’s healthcare system can be gauged with its rank that is higher than that of the United States and many other developed countries. The clinics run on very structured administrative bodies. You will not get a chance of finding any irregularities in the working methodologies of the hospitals.

The Costa Rican doctors and surgeons can speak English fluently and most of them are trained in USA. This assures the medical tourists about high quality of services.

Affordability with quality in Costa Rican Hospitals

The reason why most people prefer to travel to the developing nations for getting their medical problems looked after is the principal of affordability. Every average-income American cannot afford a dental and medical insurance to cover for the more complex procedures.

Procedures such as liver transplants, cosmetic surgeries and dental treatments can be heavy on the pocket for someone who is uninsured or severely underinsured. This is where Costa Rica can be beneficial, because of less inflation and a cheaper fee, you can get your medical procedures performed at a third of what they would charge you in an European country. The hospitals offer flexibility in offering services to the foreign travelers to accommodate them according to their convenience.

Travel with medical insurance

It was recently cited that around one million Americans visited Costa Rica for medical and dental procedures. Another common trend that bears witness to this growing trend of medical tourism is how numerous companies that cover health insurances of their employees chose to send their employees to foreign countries for getting a medical procedure done. Most people who are looking to travel and enjoy the beautiful sites that Costa Rica has on its plate, can avail this opportunity and get their dental implants or cosmetic surgeries scheduled in Costa Rica’s medical facilities to save big on money.

Preferred treatments in Costa Rica

Around 42% medical tourists still visit Costa Rica for getting dental work done. Next to dental care are gynecological treatments. Around 22% medical tourists from US visit Costa Rica for getting gynecological treatments. Other popular medical services include preventive medicine, orthopedics, bariatric and plastic surgery. People are now seeking complicated medical procedures such as hip, knee and shoulder replacements and reconstructive plastic surgeries in Costa Rica. The medical tourists can save up to 70% by getting the treatments done in Costa Rica.

Treat your teeth and your pocket to some Costa Rica

Dentists trained from US and UK, provide services at 80% lesser costs in Costa Rica. While you are at Costa Rica you could get a restorative, cosmetic or prophylactic dental treatment done and also enjoy hotel stays combined in a package. Whether you need a dental implant, a dental crown, bridge, pre-prosthetic or orthognathic surgery, teeth bleaching or root canal done, Costa Rica, with its gigantic dental team and all latest technologies will offer you a cheap dental treatment with no compromises in quality whatsoever.

Quality assured treatments at cheap prices

The top private hospitals in Costa Rica with a team of medical and dental specialists are Clinica Biblica, CIMA, and the Catholic Hospital in San Jose among others. These hospitals have the best quality treatments with complete patient support and recovery facilities. Many tour and travel companies offer exclusive medical tourism packages that can be beneficial to both your health and your pocket. The offers include a complete medical care arrangement for the type of treatment that you look forward to get done and from the health care facility that you want it to be done at. You can make your choices and book your dates online along with hotel rooms and other packages.

Location of hospitals and clinics

The hospitals in Costa Rica are situated near the tropical beaches and other naturally rich places that give you an excellent experience during your treatment. The best thing about medical tourism in Costa Rica is that it can be combined to a vacation as well.

Costa Ricans in USA find medical tourism alluring and right

There was a time when traveling was thought to be a luxury which only the rich and affluent could afford. Time has changed that notion because necessary services like healthcare and medical facilities are now costlier than traveling to foreign countries. This is why every year more number of patients from the United States are traveling to foreign medical tourism destinations.

A huge number of Costa Ricans are settled in the US, who prefer to skip the expensive medical treatment in USA, and opt for inexpensive means instead. As a result they are traveling to medical tourism destinations like Mexico, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica for different medical procedures. Costa Rican economy is getting a boost from this growing trend.

At present, it is not possible for the US government authorities to reduce the prices of healthcare facilities. The only way for the citizens, especially Costa Rican Americans, who do not have proper health insurance coverage, is to travel abroad for medical care. Every year millions of medical tourists travel to faraway countries like Thailand, India and Singapore for medical procedures. However, the Costa Rican Americans prefer medical tourism destinations which are nearer to home.

Mexico is catching up

Costa Rican Americans are also traveling to Mexico, another medical tourism destination for preventive and corrective medical treatments. The flight tickets are comparatively cheaper from the US and additional expenses like food and lodging are low. Some Americans also prefer to travel by car or bus. Mexico has made a name in providing amazing cosmetic surgeries, dentistry and weight loss surgeries.

Better be cautious

Despite the several perks of traveling abroad for medical treatments, the medical tourists should be cautious and careful. Pick a medical tourism facilitator who has got good reputation in the market. Also ask the hospital and tourism facilitator to break down the cost for you so that there are no hidden costs involved.

Summary

With World Medical Tourism Industry growing at a phenomenal pace, Costa Rica has just joined the race for providing world class health care at affordable prices.