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A lot of negative rumors in the U.S. whistles "socialized medicine" in part because of delays and restrictions associated with running government health in many countries.
"That's not what I found in Costa Rica, at all," said Gene Warneke retired in his home near Greece, the sky above town overlooking Costa Rica's lush Central Valley. Now he walks with an artificial leg following an amputation caused by a coagulation disorder.
As an American living with a disability in Costa Rica, Warneke treaty with his healthcare and medical challenges both in the U.S. and Costa Rica. And the story of how he came to see the inside of socialized medicine in Costa Rica and run the government insurance plans is relevant to people interested in the quality of health care that can suffer if they choose to retire in Costa Rica.
"Before he retired in Costa Rica, who had been living and working in Southern California and led the" Cadillac "of health coverage – a 80/20 plan through Blue Cross," Warneke said. Was the coverage was glad when he tore three ligaments shoulder. The price of the surgery and recovery quickly added. No matter what you do the math, Warneke share of the $ 30,000 tab at a hospital San Diego, and co-payments for each monitoring visit, adding, and up and up.
Costa Rica Compare insurance policies for U.S.
In Costa Rica, a fall two years later re-injured the ligaments, surgery followed another, and another hospital bill, this time under a policy Insurance in Costa Rica. One of his first steps in completing his dream of retirement has to purchase the coverage of a quasi-governmental agency, the National Institute Insurance (INS) or the National Insurance Institute. Instead of a 20 percent deduction, their share was 10 percent. Ten percent of what?
"Ten percent of $ 6,000, the total cost of my hospitalization using ambulatory surgery, a major orthopedic surgeon who had studied at the University Baylor in the U.S. and months of ambulatory care nursing and therapy for damaged ligaments, a very difficult injury to treat, "said Warneke.
If that were all he had to tell, this would be an up-beat story about the so-called socialized medicine and government-backed insurance schemes in Costa Rica. "With the plan of Costa Rica, INS did not have a complaint about access, long queues, waiting times, lack of availability," Warneke said.
Compare Surgical Care in Costa Rica to the U.S.
But there is one more chapter. It's about the medical mystery that Warneke stripped of his leg. Two years after the shoulder injury had gone to a twinge from time to time, began to feel a numbness in his left foot: blood clots in the femoral artery was starving her of oxygen, and gangrene was imminent. The artery was bypassed and not die foot amputee. But the wound will not heal and surgery was found, also the name.
"A major vein of the surgical area below the shin clotted closed," he said. "The skin and bone can not healed without blood flow, and a vein bypass was necessary. Other amputation should be several inches above the knee. "The surgeons perform according with the world class standards? A friend of Warneke life in California had the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica send more from your doctor to consult and review the work Warneke's surgeons. It was found that they had done the best any surgeon might have done, whether in the U.S. or elsewhere.
By now you can be Warneke condolences on the loss of his leg – and condolences on the loss of your retirement kitty, right? Not quite. Public " Costa Rica's socialized medical system covered this emergency, "Warneke said." Premiums were $ 32 a month and not any co-payment, provided that I used on the hospitals and doctors in the plan, a system identical to the HMO and PPO plans in the U.S. "He said.
Compare the quality of care in Costa Rica for U.S.
The last test, however, is the quality of care. "I rate my experience both American and my two experiences of Costa Rica medically equal "Warneke said." The difference is the price, my plan to Costa Rica first – the equivalent of Blue Cross of California – cost me less than a third of U.S. law. Costa Rica's government plan provider cost me almost nothing, "he said.
Oh, wait. There was a big difference. After repair of the hernia in California, Warneke was treated by a drug-resistant bacteria that acquired infection in the U.S. hospital. In the episode of Costa Rica, chose to spend about $ 1,000 to repair a herniated choice ($ 6500 in southern California) and suffered no bacterial infection.
"No ex-pat in Costa Rica have to worry about care 'account', "Warneke said." Here, compassion and medical expertise, whether preventive, elective, or unexpected, unwanted, or even a life-threatening emergency, is an integral part of this society. "
Warneke has appeared coverage on television and in August of Article 28 AIDia.cr. on the new prosthesis micro-processing unit in the leg. "It seems that I am the first Central America to have this kind, "he said. However, we want to upgrade to a href =" http://www.ottobock.com "> Otto Bock C-Leg, a second generation of computer-chip implanted prosthesis that will make your browsing more secure sometimes drunk and softer.
Read Warneke’s interview of his medical provider in Costa Rica.
Ilene Little, a former newspaper columnist for the Journal of the San Juans, The Key West Citizen, and Special to The Seattle Times, is founder of traveling4health.com Solutions for Health and Lifestyle.
Costa Rica Public Transit
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MAJOR TRANSPORT PROJECT.(in Costa Rica)(Brief Article): An article from: Caribbean Update $5.95 This digital document is an article from Caribbean Update, published by Caribbean Update, Inc. on June 1, 2002. The length of the article is 773 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTitle: MAJO… |
