Conservative talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh, declared a few weeks ago that if the Obama Health Care Plan or "Obamacare" passed he would move out of the United States and get his medical treatment in Costa Rica. A few days ago, the Obamacare was passed by Congress. This is good news for US citizens, especially the more than 30 million without healthcare but it is actually bad news for us Costa Ricans! We dont want people like Rush in Costa Rica! People who dont care about their neighbors but only about themselves and who defended the healthcare industry knowing that by doing that, they were helping to increase the misery of more than 30 million people! Nevertheless, something good also came out for Costa Rica. Suddenly, everyone is asking: Why Costa Rica?
Well, Costa Rica has a long story of social reforms and all. In one of those social reforms, in 1956, a president declared healthcare to be universal and accesible for all. He declared that the state would run the healthcare through a separate organization and that every Costa Rican RESIDENT (not even citizen) has to pay 6% of their salary to maintain the healthcare system, even if they don't use it. This could be seen as unfair by many people but not by us. This is a way to contribute to society, because all of us live in the same country and share the same resources. One person's misery harms everyone.
Also, people may argue: If its state-run, then it must be pretty bad, right? Umm, not actually. Because of our healthcare, life expectancy in Costa Rica is higher even than the US. Its actually paired up with the Scandinavian countries, who have the longest life expectancy in the world. Costa Rica ranks in general health higher than the US according to the World Health Organization. Costarican doctors are pretty good doctors. And because healthcare is accesible to anyone, private healthcare is also ridiculously cheap, compared to the US. You can get the same or higher quality medical procedure in CR for half the cost of what it would be in the US. You can get it for free, actually, if you are a resident and the procedure is covered by the national healthcare. (cosmetic procedures are not covered, this means no free boob job, sorry!)
So wrapping up, those are the reasons why Rush wants to move to Costa Rica. BUT! if he moves to Costa Rica, he'll still have to pay for national healthcare, even if he doesnt use the state-run one (he'll use the private, still cheap one which gets you "spa recovery" and tours!). And he'll obviously wont, people like that wouldnt want to contribute to society and help people they dont know. So, it seems Rush has a tough choice: stay on his country and pay healthcare for his countrymen, or pay healthcare for costaricans! Or move to another country. Still, 2 New Yorkers who used to have no healthcare, did a campaign called ATicketForRush.com where they gathered enough money to send Rush in a plane on First Class to Costa Rica. If he does go there, I sure hope the State Healthcare Official gives him a warm, Costarican welcome
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Ha! I've been following this issue, too. I'd be happy to send Rush off to another country, though I'd also feel a bit guilty about dumping our trash on someone else's land. And I think it's so ironic that he said he'd move to another country that has government run health care in order to escape from our own. The guy is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the details about the Costa Rican health system--this was informative.