Expats are Looking for Doctors in Costa Rica and HuliHealth is Coming to Help!
When you move to a new city, state, country and eventually planet there are several things that you think about before you go. Prior to moving to Costa Rica, I thought I only needed to have my board shorts, some sun tan lotion, longer hair, and my dancing shoes. However once I realized San Jose was at least an hour from the beach and that I would be working as an Expat, not vacationing in Costa Rica, my mindset changed. I needed not only my bathing suit but my real suits, a place to stay, Spanish Classes, a telephone, and most importantly access to healthcare. A suitcase was easy to buy, a place to stay easy to find via the generosity of my Costa Rican Mom Beatriz Rodriguez, Spanish classes were a no brainer with Epifania School , I unlocked my iPhone in New York and bought an ICE SIM card upon my arrival, but healthcare? What was I to do?
The system in the US was confusing enough. I needed to go through my insurance to find a GP prior to going to any other doctor. Then I needed to be recommended to a specialist if necessary but I was only able to go to that specialist if they were covered under my insurance. This is before I even had any information on those doctors such as education, experience, reviews, and price (good luck!). Fortunately, my father is a Rheumatologist in NY and has colleagues that were able to provide health services and answers to these questions. However what was I to do in Costa Rica as a foreigner? I knew Costa Rica was ranked 36th in the WHO healthcare rankings so I was not worried about access to healthcare but how was I to access the top doctors that catered towards my needs. I wanted any easy way to access information prior to visiting a doctor: their education, their location, their languages, their past patient experiences, availability and the average cost for an average guy like me without insurance. Makes sense to have these questions answered, doesn’t it??? That’s what I thought too but where can I find these answers? We all know Yellowpages is very outdated! Thankfully, I came down here to solve this exact problem.
By making healthcare more transparent we are creating a site that makes it easier and more efficient to search for doctors based upon a patient’s need. We at HuliHealth are very excited about our launch in Costa Rica as one of our first markets. We hope to truly provide value to any patient searching for a doctor whether that search is by education, location, languages spoken, price, patient reviews, or availability. I invite everyone in Costa Rica to check out our site and find the doctor they need or to contact us so we can answer any questions they have about HuliHealth! Pura Vida.
By Anthony Morano