With medical costs in the US seemingly out of control with no end in sight, more and more Americans have had to delay or even forgo healthcare simply because they could no longer afford the kind of care they deserved and wanted. .
Americans spend more money per person on health care than any other country in the world, and aside from East Timor (ever heard of it?), the country of the US on the planet. Still, more than 50 million residents are uninsured and essentially out of reach for the American medical industry.
That fact creates a gap between the need and desire for quality health care and the ability to do so at an affordable price.
But, like Nature, companies abhor a vacuum, and as the US medical industry increasingly prices its services beyond its consumers’ ability or willingness to pay, the vacuum is being filled in abroad.
Today we know it as medical tourism and small Costa Rica has become one of the top 5 medical tourism destinations on the planet.
It’s easy to see why: high-quality care at globally accredited hospitals (called “Joint Commission on Accredited International Accreditation” or “JCI”), board-certified physicians, and prices up to 65% lower than those in the United States. In fact, the capital city of Costa Rica, San José, has three private JCI hospitals that meet the highest standards of any US hospital (perhaps no coincidence, as some are run by US providers).
One of those hospitals, CIMA, is the newest first class hospital in the country. Located just outside of San José in upscale Escazú, it has an emergency department, diagnostic services, internal medicine, operating rooms, pediatrics, OB/GYN and an attached six-story medical office building that houses more than 160 professionals in 52 specialties.
As it celebrates its 20th birthday in San José, in 2012 CIMA is opening its second hospital in thriving Guanacaste along the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. With a projected cost of $125,000,000, the hospital will be approximately 215,000 square feet in size, located on the outskirts of Liberia, and about 15 minutes from the country’s famous Gold Coast beaches.
It will be part of a complex that, in addition to the hospital, includes doctors’ offices, restaurants and an apartment-style hotel. Plans are to build it in phases that will eventually include assisted living and nursing facilities, with some emphasis on retirees over 55.
With 10,000 Americans retiring daily, many looking to move abroad, Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is a tempting option. Liberia has the country’s newest international airport (and already sees some 600,000 travelers a year) and, in addition to the new state-of-the-art hospital, a new 2,200-acre retirement community is also being developed.
It’s also a tempting target for the medical industry. Medical tourists already bring more than $100 million a year to this small Central American country, a figure many are betting has only scratched the potential. And, with 750,000 Americans already receiving medical and dental care abroad, the market has barely been scratched for the Costa Rican medical tourism industry.
