All Entries in the "CCSS (Caja) – Costa Rica National Health Care & Social Security" Category

There’s a WAR Ship In Costa Rica!

Costa Rica was the first country in the world to formally abolish its military. However, this lack of armed forces puts Costa Rica in a paradox while regional drug gangs and cartels lawlessly traffic narcotics.

The Costa Rica government has reached out to the United States military for assistance but in light of extremely vocal opposition says the U.S. is on its shore for humanitarian purposes. What’s really going on?!

President of Costa Rica Supports ‘Legal Recognition’ for Gay Couples

Outgoing Costa Rican President Óscar Arias finally takes a stand on gay unions by stating he supports legal recognition of same-sex couples.

A bill to grant gay couples pension, inheritance, immigration, social-security and other rights is languishing in the Costa Rica Legislative Assembly. So is same-sex marriage coming anytime soon to Costa Rica?

43% of Costa Ricans Don’t Drink Alcohol, but 10% Drink Excessively

Although 57 percent of Costa Ricans drink alcoholic beverages, most do so in moderation.

However, a new study shows a small segment of the population drinks most of the total liquor consumed in this country. Just 10 percent of all Costa Rica drinkers ingest a staggering 80 percent of all alcohol sold.

Analysis of the Newly Opened Costa Rica Insurance Market

Costa Rica President Óscar Arias Sánchez signed into law Costa Rica’s new insurance reform ending the Instituto Nacional de Seguros’ (INS) eighty-year-old monopoly over the country’s insurance industry.

Can the INS compete in an open market with other private insurers on price, product diversity and service?

Rush Limbaugh: if U.S. Healthcare Passes “I’ll go to Costa Rica”

U.S. conservative radio ‘shock jock’ Rush Limbaugh said he will go to Costa Rica if the U.S. Congress approves President Barack Obama’s health care reform initiative.

Limbaugh further added that many insurance companies are setting up camp in Costa Rica because they believe they’ll be put out of business if Obamacare passes.

Internet and e-Commerce Industries Booming in Costa Rica

Central American countries, like Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, are all experiencing a considerable scale of development in their telecommunication sectors.

However, Costa Rica has managed to reach a high level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and operation advancements due to its economic policies.

Is Costa Rica a Third World, Second World or Developed Country?

There is a multi-million-dollar mega-mall in Escazú, west of San José, which sports outlets of some of the world’s most exclusive stores. But, according to the State of the Nation report in November, at least 16,000 Costa Rican homes are “without basic services,” such as electricity and running water.

A constant feature of this disparity in the makeup of Costa Rica is that, while certain areas of the country are surging ahead, there are many areas in which the country is not keeping up or is, indeed, falling behind.

Costa Rica’s New Traffic Laws Take Effect March 1, 2010

Costa Rica’s new and sweeping traffic reform laws (reformas a Ley de Tránsito) will finally be the law of the land on March 1st, 2010.

The cornerstone of the new reform is the computerization of drivers’ license records, and the use of a strict points system to force drivers to re-evaluate and change their driving practices.

Costa Rica’s New Immigration Law Takes Effect March 1, 2010

Costa Rica’s new immigration law (nueva ley migratoria) was published in the official government publication La Gaceta on September 1, 2009 … meaning the new “Ley General de Migración y Extranjería” will be the Costa Rica immigration law of the land starting March 1, 2010. Costa Rica is a world-wide destination for vacationers, travelers, those [...]

The Agenda and Challenges of Costa Rica’s New President

Costa Rica’s first woman head of state, president-elect Laura Chinchilla, must now get to work. For decades Costa Rica has been an oasis of stability in the troubled Central American isthmus. It is the only Latin American country to figure on a list of the world’s 22 “older democracies” compiled by Robert Dahl, an eminent [...]

Heredia Hospital, Costa Rica’s Newest Modern Public Medical Facility

A new landmark for residents and visitors to Heredia sits in the sun on 11 hectares (27 acres) only 400 meters south of the 117-year-old obsolete Hospital San Vicente de Paúl that has long outlived its usefulness. The new Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) public Hospital de Heredia San Vicente de Paúl is a [...]

A Night at the Del Rey – Costa Rica’s Most inFamous Hotel

It’s not nearly as famous as Amsterdam in this regard, but prostitution is legal in Costa Rica and the country has become quite a big destination for sex tourism – despite the Costa Rica government’s own efforts to discourage its promotion and growth. Michael Paladin is an expat living in Central America who for the [...]

One Third of Costa Rican Children Live in Poverty

Children represent 32% of the poor in Costa Rica; limited opportunities for single mothers among causes. One third of Costa Rican children under age 12, almost 300,000 in all, live in poverty according to government figures published January 25, 2010 by the local press in the Costa Rica, San José capital. Statistics from the “State [...]

Break Me Off A Piece Of Costa Rica

Nicholas Kristof has a happy-go-lucky column yesterday in the New York Times about Costa Rica that reads as part tourism advertisement, part political common sense. He goes on and on about how the country is consistently ranked high in “happiness” surveys. This is true. How, then, did they get that way? What sets Costa Rica [...]

The Costa Rica Health Care System, Medical Vacations and What The U.S. Can Learn

Statistics from the World Health Organization place Costa Rica third in life expectancy, sandwiched neatly behind Japan and France and ahead of Great Britain and the United States; and with a per capita income about one tenth of the other four. Some will state longevity in Costa Rica is attributable to a culturally laid back [...]

Costa Rica’s Indigenous Boruca Indian Tribe

The Boruca (also known as the Brunca or the Brunka) are a native American tribe of indigenous people living in Costa Rica. The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples. They are often also referred to as Native Americans. [...]

Why is Costa Rica Smiling?

This Central American country tops the Happy Planet Index. A child growing up in the Costa Rican countryside is surrounded by some of the most beautiful and biodiverse landscapes in the world. The government of this tiny Central American country aims to keep it that way. But preserving this land of tropical rainforests isn’t Costa [...]

Costa Rica Libertarian Presidential Candidate May Force Runoff

A new poll published December 1, 2009 by Costa Rica’s daily La Nación shows that Libertarian (Partido Movimiento Libertario -ML) presidential candidate Otto Guevara has 30% of support among likely voters, trailing the candidate of the incumbent Social Democrat party (Partido Liberación Nacional – PLN) Laura Chinchilla, who has 43% support. The news here is [...]

U.S. Military Donates Medical Clinic to Rural Costa Rica Community

As part of the U.S. government’s commitment to work with Costa Rica to improve the healthcare system of the country, United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) donated a $462,000 medical clinic to the community of Bambú, Talamanca, a rural part of Costa Rica where the majority of the population is indigenous. The inauguration ceremony was timely [...]

Arkansas Woman Living & Treated for Breast Cancer in Costa Rica Helps Others

An Arkansas couple falls in love with Costa Rica, and in the process expands the reach of hero Central. It started with whitewater rafting. John and Kathy Ward went to Costa Rica for a fun vacation. Then they started going on mission trips with their church and volunteering, and then other churches turned to the [...]