As a member of the Costa Rica Power Team and a lover of all things Costa Rica I am asked, “What about the health care?” when I am gushing about the attributes of one of my favorite countries in the world!

Well, in 2001, the World Health Organization ranked the tiny Central American nation 36th of 191 countries for health system performance.  Oh, and this was above the ranking of the United States!  This ranking comes as a result of reforms in the Costa Rican system and dramatically improved primary health care.  Since the countrya abolished its military in the 1940’s it can invest in its social sector what other countries spend on weapons and military funding.

One of the most successful elements of reform was the introduction of Basic Health attention Teams (EBAIS)responsible for a community’s physical and socail needs.  The system was divided into 20 hospital providers and 90 health zones.  Each zone was further divided into 10 EBAIS.

A national health plan was approved and investments were restructured, allocating resources where they were most needed.  The autonomy of healthcare providers increased with a greater control over their finances and the power to implement organizational changes.  Incentives for achieving goals were raised because 10% of a hospital’s budget was withhel and rewarded later for good performance.

Over the past decade investments from global development finance institutions such as World Bank and Inter American Development bank has exceeded US$  1 billion.  In the past several years the Costa Rican government has contributed about US$200 million to strengthen primary health care costs.

There is continual system of improvement and modernization.  Definitely, Costa Rica could teach the US a few things about health care!

Don’t forget to check out our website www.deededparadise.com for up to date information on all things Costa Rica!

Data collected from World Health Organization