Caja plan

OldMark wrote:

INS is a good option if you need insurance in Costa Rica. I can just speak from my own experience and I was insured by the CAJA for over a year without having residency. ARCR is a helpful organization, but it is always better to go directly to the CAJA and not rely on what ARCR tells you about the CAJA. I was member of ARCR for a year as well. They told me that there was no way that I would get residency the way I wanted to apply for it. Well I did it with a layer that I found on my own and got it! They are a very helpful organization, but are a bit pessimistic sometimes. It's ok, because they don't want you to spend your money if it's unsure that you would be successful with your residency.

I went to the CAJA and told them that I am going to apply for residency and that I want to join. I filled out their forms, paid the monthly rate and used their service once without any problems.

Of course if you go to the CAJA and tell them that you don't have residency and want to join they won't let you.

There is a lot of wrong information circulating, lawyers and ARCR just repeating the same stories. In the end I got all the paperwork from the Immigration and the CAJA and investigated on my own. That is what I recommend to everyone!

I totally agree with you about ARCR . They are very useful but are also very "by the book" and seldom or never think outside the box.

I have heard several testimonials that people were able to get CAJA before residency, and apparently it depends on who helps you at the window or desk or whatever.

OldMark, can you tell me what office you applied at for CAJA (is there just one? in San Jose?) and what paper work you took with you? My feeling is that probably if you show up with a folder of paperwork and it all looks very official and you say something like "I was told by my attorney to come here and apply", that might make them inclined to approve it.

I was told once by an attorney in Costa Rica that most bureaucrats just want to see lots of paper. They don't necessarily always look at it carefully or check it to see that it's legal or correct, they just want to see paper!

I'm not saying this will always work but from what I hear it does sometimes work. Of course ARCR would NEVER say anything like this! ;-D

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and I don' t encourage anyone to lie or cheat. I'm just saying get your ducks all in a row and provide a lot of paperwork that makes your case appear very organized and official, and it may help you get what you want.

Years ago, it was perfectly legal to be affiliated with CAJA and not a legal resident. Anyone could sign up. We did.
Can you do it now?
I have no idea...but without producing your paperwork from immigration or cedula I doubt it.

kohlerias wrote:

Years ago, it was perfectly legal to be affiliated with CAJA and not a legal resident. Anyone could sign up. We did.
Can you do it now?
I have no idea...but without producing your paperwork from immigration or cedula I doubt it.

I doubt it is easy or common, but it has been done if one can believe what an expat wrote in another forum.

Therefore it may be that if you go to sign up at just the right time and get just the right person behind the counter, it could happen that you get CAJA without being legally eligible. Whether this is even still possible is unknown to me, but it has been said to have happened and I can't imagine that the person lied about it. The way I figure it, you have nothing to lose by trying. Except some time.

Cool.  I've got all those little ducks lined up and waddling along.  Plan to arrive Quepos Feb 2014, and begin the process immediately if not sooner.  I hope to go through the process as smoothly as possible, and have, of course my return tickets just in case. Also storing my 5th wheel and jeep in the states just in case.  Apartment is set up, as are the mounds of paperwork. Will post as it goes.
BoatBill63

I'll be about a year behind you, in 2015, so I look forward to your posting of your experiences.
Have you thought of creating a blog in which you write about it?

I am a resident and did use CAJA when I first arrived four years ago.  Before spending money on CAJA, I would suggest you go to a few of their hospitals, talk to people that have used it and look at some of the scars that they leave on people from the simplest surgeries.  I have seen first hand two appendix scars that were 6-8" long and literally one inch thick.  A Gringo neighbor had abdominal surgery in San Ramon.  A week or so after surgery he ended up needing to take an ambulance to CIMA hospital to have a severe infection addressed.  This is a common occurrence.

If you need anything major such as kidney dialysis, you will wait for more than a year if all you have is CAJA,  (The kidney dialysis example is exactly what's going on with a Tico friend's nephew.)  If you need an expensive medication, they most likely will not have it and cannot get it.  If I need something simple I go into San Jose to one of the better hospitals - they don't accept CAJA. Iif I end up needed something major, I plan to fly back to the State to use Medicare. 

Personal opinion, but quite seriously, I would not take my dog to a CAJA hospital.    I purchase CAJA to re-new my Cedula and then don't pay it after that.  It's a waste of money.

At the same time, there are Gringos that I have spoken with that have used it and did like it.  So, needless to say, form your own opinion.

- Dave

As of this month, the CAJA for  Aseguro Voluntario rate has risen 17%. My monthly payment has gone up $10 per month. This is applying directly at  the local CCSS office

Great idea.  I write  quite prolifically, and am working on two novels and a documentary political comedy.  I shall work on the "blog as you go" idea.

Bill

Dave,
I don't doubt your experience and do appreciate your bringing your experience to light.

That said, your opinion of CAJA care seems to be a minority one from what I have heard over about 20 years of forum reading and talking to friends who live in Costa Rica.

So I am trying to figure out if this boils down to a particular area or particular hospitals.
Therefore it would be very helpful if you named names and said which hospitals/doctors you have seen problems with.

As to the dialysis, waiting a year for it is a wait that I imagine might lead to death. So that is a serious issue and honestly I appreciate your bringing this "alternative view" up, as I am going to start asking around.

I will point out that HMO's here in the U.S.A. also have many horror stories and I am guessing the vast majority of Americans do use HMO's. If you look at a site that rates and reviews the HMO's you will find none of them have more than 3 stars out of 5 and many have less. Having been an HMO patient for many years I can say that it is not always the best of care and sometimes it's simply a waste of time.

I also know 2-3 people who have died from hospital stays in the USA from common procedures like anasthesia and one who died because he didn't have coverage at the local hospital so they sent him away with some pills, said he'd be okay to go to another hospital the next day and he died that night. Horror stories abound with medical care no matter what country, I think. Nevertheless your condemnation of CAJA care raises concerns that I will investigate.

if you don't want to "give names" here in this thread feel free to PM me. Thanks.

ExpatDave wrote:

I am a resident and did use CAJA when I first arrived four years ago.  Before spending money on CAJA, I would suggest you go to a few of their hospitals, talk to people that have used it and look at some of the scars that they leave on people from the simplest surgeries.  I have seen first hand two appendix scars that were 6-8" long and literally one inch thick.  A Gringo neighbor had abdominal surgery in San Ramon.  A week or so after surgery he ended up needing to take an ambulance to CIMA hospital to have a severe infection addressed.  This is a common occurrence.

If you need anything major such as kidney dialysis, you will wait for more than a year if all you have is CAJA,  (The kidney dialysis example is exactly what's going on with a Tico friend's nephew.)  If you need an expensive medication, they most likely will not have it and cannot get it.  If I need something simple I go into San Jose to one of the better hospitals - they don't accept CAJA. Iif I end up needed something major, I plan to fly back to the State to use Medicare. 

Personal opinion, but quite seriously, I would not take my dog to a CAJA hospital.    I purchase CAJA to re-new my Cedula and then don't pay it after that.  It's a waste of money.

At the same time, there are Gringos that I have spoken with that have used it and did like it.  So, needless to say, form your own opinion.

- Dave

I agree with Dave in that I have seen some very ugly scars on some Tico friends.
I think, if you took a poll on this forum or one of the many other ones here in Costa Rica, asking if Residents who are covered by CAJA, also use private doctors and their facilities, you would be surprised at how many do so. Every town offers private facilities, some with operating rooms for minor surgeries and which are used, primarily by locals. They couldn't exist otherwise.
Some facilities and doctors are better than others, just like anywhere else in the world, but you cannot chose which doctor you want to see or which facility to go to, as you are required to use the one in the location where you live.
Most expats and many Costa Rica citizens, go to a doctor, who works both in private practice and for CAJA, and who will write their Rx, and then they go to their local EBAIS, to pick up their 'free' medications. We do ... and purchase over the counter, what is not provided by CAJA.

Isn't it is better to wait to post an opinion, until you have actually had first hand experience? I have had both good and bad.

Note: You cannot renew your cedula, if your CAJA payments are not up to date nor can you access CAJA in an emergency, where you will get treated quickly.