So my total is around $4 K per month.

I am thinking this out correctly or am I way off base here ?

I am also considering living in CR. I would like to keep my life as simple as possible with mimimum drama.

I have 2 concerns upfront:

1) I believe one really scary/dangerous experience could sour me on living in CR.
2) costs and expenditures.

My guess as to the remedy for these concerns are:
1) live in a safe yet not overly expensive area like Ecazu. Keep a low profile.
2) I think I can manage around $2.5 K per month for costs: I estimate this will break out roughly as follows:
monthly travel ($200) ,
rent ($800),
food ($400),
Health plan in US ($700),
car/transportation ($200),
food ($400),
other cost such as utilities, cable, cash, dentist, pencils, you name it ($250)

I also think I will have about $1.5 per month for entertainment, trips, descretionary spending and cost overruns.

So my total is around $4 K per month.

I am thinking this out correctly or am I way off base here ?

Wow, Health Care at $700 per month, say it ain't so???

Probably THE decision maker for me to live here was what I was paying for health insurance in the USA. Back in 2004 (I was 55) it was over $500 a month and rising at least 10% every year. I am playing less per year now than I was per month. Some people wouldn't be satisfied with just the Caja, but you can always supplement it with private care. I can pay rent and eat on what my health insurance would now cost me.

just like the cops take a course on harassing and discouraging poor looking gringos on the street and at the border..the bumbling horde at caja.. rampant with staph.and mrsa...will hang your gringo ass out to dry...and brag about it at the local bar.. tainted or outright fake drugs from china..just powder with a little strichnine to give you a boost and a little mood elevation.dont let your dog near your china meds ..just a lick on most will be his last....man.. ive beat this phucking horse with louisville slugger...pages of critical juncture from every source and personal experience from friends and enemas alike.....its not rocket science that the caja is gutted..the wealthy and connected use a private facility or an elite suite of theatres and docs in case of an emergency...precluding medivac to the florida or hopkins ...and bill the caja...while granny gets a three month wait ..a soapy enema and a fare theefuckingwell.. ...ever middle income lawyer i know with cancer in cr is going to the u s for "emergency treatment" during the "course of bizness"...its free ...its far superior to caja.....and the odds are nobodys gonna spike your iv with carcinogens or something to speed you on your way..when push comes to shove...caja is a spookhouse ride thats ends not in a burst of light ..young faces in the crowd..the smell of cotton candy...but the stale fartstained landscape of the grim reapers bvds wrapped around your face ..your soul and your essence... for eternity....................hell...everyone needs the illusory saftey net of medical competence to replace the love we never got as Ch*ldren...just call a spade a spade...its a megasublimated.. overpriced.. "cheap for gringos"...consumption of local third rate pussee... parofdice...im not here often anymore...but you got to love the innocence.. projected kindness and the romantic grasping at straws in a shithole that not even the residents of molokai could covet..

Also if you are a relativly young and healthy gringo without many local ties and you happen to become ill and happen to die suddenly after entering this system they will harvest your organs for the international market and call it an autopsy due to the sudden death. at least this is what will be told to whoever comes to claim your body

The best advice I can give you is. Get down here. Some advice you get is good, some is not. You gotta be on your own journey.

Is this anecdotal "word on the street" is there an actual factual basis to this assertion; Not calling anyone a liar, I just want to know if that is in fact going on down there.

How about chronic pain drugs, Without being to personal I am in my 2nd + year of fighting L & I and not losing but they are wearing me down, I am on chronic pain meds to just function can not get out of bed without them, F*ck can't stay in bed without them.

So I learned all I need to know about just about everything else but this, I have MRI's and a file two inches thick proving the need for these and so far I am only on percocet but doc want to move me to Oxycontin to save the liver since it's been a couple years plus so far. So far I have been fighting this move just not ready yet.

So what can I expect dealing with Chronic Pain?

Thanks

Dave