www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I paid $300US for a colonoscopy in San Jose, including the Diprivan (Michael Jackson and Joan Rivers drug) and a thorough report with pictures. He said that the price was the same for Ticos and Gringos. No polyps or other pathology was found.

I stood shoulder-to-shoulder talking with the board certified gastroenterologist during the exam. He was well-trained and did a good examination.

Good, affordable medical care can be found in CR, but you must be careful about your choices, and you must investigate with a lot of questions.

Careful choices and muchos questions are wise in the States and everywhere else. We must be our own advocates........especially with elective, cosmetic surgery.

Just got my bill from the orthopedic doc for having an injection in my knee. $265 for the office visit, $30 for the meds injected and another $285 ;listed as inpatient surgery. I called and asked for an explanation as I had no surgery. I was told that it was for the doctor administering the injection. Took him 2 minutes! The MRI was over $2500. Of course this was last year, so none of it applies to my 2015 deductible.

Looking at 18K for the knee surgery in the States, of which I'll pick up the first $7500, plus 20% of the remaining. If I wait until I need a full replacement we are talking $40K to $65K.

Rac I pay c25,000 mil for an office visit. Lab tests are another c25,000 if you need them.

Nowhere in the world would BigMike pay what he paid in the States. In many medical centers outside of the States, the care is as good as in the States, and is provided by U.S. trained Docs.

But you have to make careful selections of doctors and facilities.

There is a good book about this. >>> The Healing of America, by T.R. Reid, an old-school investigative reporter.

He compared treatments and prices and outcomes in many wealthy nations around the world (and the reasons for the price differences) ...... with the same in the States. You'll be astonished by what he found. It's a good read.

7 years ago, I paid 36,000 colones at Hospital Clinica Biblica for an EKG and a consult with a cardiologist. I was impressed both with the Doc and the price.