What’s all the buzz about Costa Rica?

Costa Rica’s reputation for excellent, affordable health care is no longer a well-kept secret.  Each day, Juan Santa Maria International Airport welcomes tourists flocking here for elective surgeries.  Several doctors and private clinics offer plastic surgery, lasik eye procedures, dental work and complete physicals to foreigners, as well as Costa Ricans.  Physicians, hospitals, clinics and health care professionals are expanding their practices to cater to this burgeoning medical tourism.  English speaking care providers are easily available.  Costa Rican hospitals and clinics meet or exceed standards found in well-respected hospitals and clinics located in the U.S. or Canada.  Well known for its eco-tourism, what is driving this new phenomenon?   Why are people flocking to Costa Rica for treatments available in their home countries?  In a word: cost.  Not only are procedures less expensive here, but the private recovery facilities are luxurious and relatively inexpensive.  This makes Costa Rica an appealing alternative when undergoing dental work, cosmetic surgery, eye surgery, etc.  Compared to U.S. costs, an individual can come to Costa Rica for medical care, relax in beautiful, tropical surroundings during recuperation and fly back home with money in their pocket – sometimes for less than half the cost they would have paid in their home town.  It is not uncommon to see women browsing, laughing and enjoying themselves in a shopping center or restaurant with bandages wrapped under their chins and over the tops of their heads, obviously face lift recipients.  (I am aware of one facility – and there are undoubtedly others – that offers door to door service for a flat fee of less than $10,000 for a complete face lift.)  During recovery, “patients” can enjoy day tours of Costa Rica, bask by a pool or hot tub while watching cloud formations over distant mountains, dine on tasty food prepared in an on-site kitchen and return to their homes refreshed and looking and feeling younger and healthier.  Wouldn’t recovering from a root canal or liposuction be more tolerable in lush, tropical surroundings?  (For the perfect recovery facility, check this out.)