What interested me most about today was the emphasis that Costa Rica puts on primary care. With prevention and primary care categorized as the first level of care, many people do not need to use the second or third level of care, which are the general and special hospital services. I find it interesting that healthcare workers of the first level go to homes to educate and ensure that people are taking care of their health. Citizens in this country pay 9% income tax in order to receive these kinds of services. I am surprised that an idea such as this was implemented because this is a relatively high income tax and approaching people at their homes would be a potential privacy issue in the U.S.
One issue in the U.S. is that a small percentage of people use the most costly healthcare services, specifically, a portion of Medicare patients. One question that I have is if Costa Rica had the same issue especially since much of their healthcare services is for preventive care. I also expect uncompensated care to be an issue because 14.5% of people are uninsured, as we learned at the Ministry of Public Health. I’m interested in learning the financial issues of this healthcare system.