| A lot of negative buzz in the U.S. hisses "socialized | | | | of oxygen, and gangrene was imminent. The failed |
| medicine," partly because of the delays and restrictions | | | | artery was bypassed and the dying foot amputated. |
| associated with government run health care in many | | | | But the wound wouldn't heal and further surgery found |
| countries. | | | | the reason. |
| "That's not what I found in Costa Rica, at all," said | | | | "A major vein to the surgical site below my shin clotted |
| retiree Gene Warneke from his home near Grecia, a | | | | closed," He said. "The skin and bone couldn't heal |
| sky-top villa overlooking Costa Rica's lush Central | | | | without blood flow, and another vein bypass was |
| Valley. He now walks with a prosthetic leg in the | | | | required. Another amputation had to be performed |
| aftermath of an amputation brought on by a clotting | | | | several inches above my knee. "Did the surgeons |
| disorder. | | | | perform according to world class standards? A friend |
| As an American living with a disability in Costa Rica, | | | | of Warneke's living in California had the American |
| Warneke dealt with his health care and medical | | | | Embassy in Costa Rica send over their doctor to |
| challenges both in the U.S. and in Costa Rica. And the | | | | consult with and review the work of Warneke's |
| story of how he came to see the inside of socialized | | | | surgeons. He found that they had done the best any |
| medicine in Costa Rica and government run insurance | | | | surgeon could have done, whether in the U.S. or |
| plans is relevant for people interested in the quality of | | | | anywhere else. |
| healthcare they might experience if choosing to retire | | | | By now you might be extending Warneke |
| in Costa Rica. | | | | condolences on the loss of his leg -- and condolences |
| "Before I retired in Costa Rica, I had been living and | | | | on the loss of his retirement kitty, right? Not quite. |
| working in southern California and carried the "Cadillac" | | | | "Costa Rica's public socialized medical system |
| of medical coverage -- an 80/20 plan through Blue | | | | covered this emergency," Warneke said. "The |
| Cross," Warneke said. It was coverage he was glad | | | | premiums were $32 a month and there was no |
| to have when he tore three shoulder ligaments. The | | | | co-payment as long as I used the hospitals and |
| price of surgery and recovery added up fast. No | | | | doctors in the plan, a system identical to HMO and |
| matter how one does the math, Warneke's share of | | | | PPO plans in the U.S.," he said. |
| the $30,000 tab at a San Diego hospital, plus co-pays | | | | Compare Quality of Care in Costa Rica to U.S. |
| at every follow-up visit added up, and up, and up. | | | | The ultimate test, however, is the quality of care. "I'd |
| Compare Costa Rica Insurance Policies to U.S. | | | | rate both my American experience and my two |
| In Costa Rica, a fall two years later re-damaged the | | | | Costa Rican experiences as medically equal," |
| ligaments, another surgery followed, and another | | | | Warneke said. "The difference is the price tag; my first |
| hospital bill, this time under a Costa Rican insurance | | | | Costa Rican plan -- the equivalent of Blue Cross of |
| policy. One of his first moves in finalizing his retirement | | | | California -- cost me less than a third of the American |
| dream had been to buy coverage from a | | | | bill. The Costa Rican government's provider plan cost |
| quasi-governmental agency, Instituto Nacional de | | | | me next to nothing," he said. |
| Seguros (INS), or National Insurance Institute. Instead of | | | | Oh, wait. There was one big difference. After a hernia |
| a 20-percent deductible, his share was 10 percent. Ten | | | | repair in California, Warneke had to be treated for a |
| percent of what? | | | | drug-resistant bacterial infection that he acquired in the |
| "Ten percent of $6,000, the total cost of my | | | | U.S. hospital. In the Costa Rican episode, he opted to |
| out-patient hospital usage, surgery by a leading | | | | spend about a $1,000 for an elective hernia repair |
| orthopedic surgeon who had studied at Baylor | | | | ($6500 in SoCal) and suffered no bacterial infection. |
| University in the U.S. and months of outpatient care | | | | "No ex-pat in Costa Rica needs to worry about 'being |
| and therapy to nurse the damaged ligaments, a | | | | taken care of,'" Warneke said. "Here, medical |
| notoriously difficult injury to deal with," Warneke said. | | | | compassion and expertise, whether preventive, |
| If that were all there was to tell, this would be one | | | | elective, or unexpected, unwanted, or even a |
| up-beat anecdote about so-called socialized medicine | | | | life-threatening emergency, is an integral part of this |
| and government-backed insurance plans in Costa Rica. | | | | society." |
| "With the Costa Rica INS plan, I didn't have one | | | | Warneke has been featured in television coverage |
| complaint about access, long lines, wait times, | | | | and in August 28 article in AIDia.cr. regarding the new |
| non-availability," Warneke said. | | | | prosthetic micro-processing unit in his leg. "It seems I'm |
| Compare Surgical Care in Costa Rica to U.S. | | | | the first in Central America to have this type," he said. |
| But there is one more chapter. It's about the medical | | | | However, he wants to upgrade to an Otto Bock C-leg, |
| mystery that robbed Warneke of his leg. Two years | | | | a second-generation computer-chip implanted |
| after the shoulder injury had faded to an occasional | | | | prosthetic that will make his sometimes tipsy navigation |
| twinge, he began feeling a numbness in his left foot: | | | | safer and smoother. |
| blood clots in the femoral artery were starving his limb | | | | |