While the United States may still be the richest nation on Earth, it can’t claim to be as happy as Denmark or Finland. In fact, according to a new analysis of data provided by the Gallup World Poll, the relationship between overall life satisfaction and wealth may not be as straightforward as previously thought.

Looking at data collected across 132 countries, the Gallup Organization based their marks — released this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology — on representative samples of more than 136,000 people in each country. Respondents were asked how they would rate their lives on a scale from zero (worst possible) to 10 (best possible), as well as answering a series of questions on positive or negative emotions.

See Gallup’s top 15 countries, each with a mean score between 7.0 and 7.7, HERE

Herradura First Costa Rican Hotel To Complete Medical Tourism Training Course

Inside Costa Rica
In the first course of its kind, 250 staff members of the Ramada Plaza Herradura in San José, Costa Rica, completed a two day training program, “Caring for the Medical Tourist”, created and delivered in Spanish by Medical Tourism Training.

The hotel staff enjoyed the mix of information, demonstrations, discussions, and questions and answers, all aimed at helping them deliver better customer service to the hotel’s medical tourism guests.

Hotels and resorts in Costa Rica are catering to medical tourists as a way to diversify and expand their client base while increasing revenues by offering services to guests before and after they receive medical treatment.

The required changes to customer care vary depending on the type of medical care guests receive. The challenges and opportunities offered by serving medical tourists require careful planning and thorough preparation. Preparing staff members is a key factor to successfully serve the needs of medical tourists.

The two-session, interactive introductory program is based on real-world scenarios.

Each session is two to two and one-half hours long and covers topics including:
• Introduction to medical tourism and medical tourists;
• Cultural awareness and cultural norms;
• Providing customer care pre-op and post-op;
• Impact of staff behavior – body language, eye contact;
• VIP customer care service for medical tourists;
• Caring for accompanying guests;
• Identifying and handling biohazardous waste;
• Wheelchair assistance;
• Recognizing serious emergencies;
• ABCs of first aid;
• What to do in an emergency;
• What to do after an emergency.

Designed to ensure measurable results, the knowledge check component to the training sessions confirms that the participants are able to identify and recall the key points. A post-training evaluation ensures that the program is meeting the needs of the organization. Following the training the trainers prepare a report containing the results of the program evaluations as well as actionable steps for senior management to improve their medical tourism services.

The training focused on the unique demands of international health travelers and is the first completed by new company Medical Tourism Training. Medical Tourism Training’s affiliated company, healthcare consultancy firm Stackpole Associates, compiles quarterly surveys of the hotel’s current and past guests, of all kinds, to evaluate their awareness of medical tourism and to plan for improved hotel services for medical tourists. The company is developing other training programs designed to have a broader appeal to healthcare providers, agencies and others in the medical tourism field.

Medical Tourism Training’s Elizabeth Ziemba says that healthcare providers lose customers because they are not meeting the service expectations of international health travelers, “Prompt and polite communications are essential to success in this sector that is relationship driven. Every phone call or e-mail that goes unanswered or employees that react poorly to foreign customers lose business. Our program train staff, instilling effective, proven skills that can transform relationships with medical tourists.”

The company is also offering “Medical Tourism Guests: The Right Choice for your Hotel or Resort?”

This 90-120 minute presentation is designed for senior management teams that are expanding services for medical tourists and their accompanying guests. It addresses the planning and management issues vital to creating and tailoring services for the medical tourism market.

Real Estate Investment Consultant Jeff Hickcox

This is continued from Retirement Living In Atenas Costa Rica – Free video part I here.

Many clients ask us “If I retire to Costa Rica what is there to do for retirees?” Well, once you’ve gotten settled and exhausted all of the day-tripping to see the many wonders of Costa Rica, which are often repeated when your guests are in town, there are many activities and social gatherings to keep you busy.

In our town of Atenas, you’ll find just about any activity that would interest in your home country. Within a 30-minute drive there are golf courses, tennis courts, modern malls and movie theaters, beaches, volcano tours, hiking, biking, rappelling, world class fishing and so much more.

Also in Atenas, there are a variety of social groups like womens’ clubs, garden clubs, book clubs, poker clubs, and volunteer groups along with classes for painting, dancing, cooking and Spanish to name a few. All of these activities are in addition to the morning coffee shop chat, the weekly farmers market, expat dinner parties, the countless local fiestas, and other local events.

TO WATCH VIDEO AND READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE

Retiring to a foreign country comes with many challenges. First, you must decide what type of lifestyle you desire in retirement.

Lifestyle choices like climate, cost of living, access to services (especially quality health care), quality of life, social opportunities, and distance from loved ones seem to be the most important to the average retiree.

Increasingly, it is becoming more difficult financially to retire in the United States. Although real estate prices have come down in popular retirement areas like Florida and Arizona, the cost of taxes, health insurance, food, and other necessities have skyrocketed making it very difficult for North Americans to retire comfortably in the States.

TO WATCH FREE VIDEO AND READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE

by Kevin Brass

The Costa Rican government is promoting a plan to help developers build projects centered on health care facilities for foreign retirees.

New developments would offer clusters of services, including nursing and research facilities, catering to senior citizens looking for an inexpensive alternative to medical care in their own countries

In the wake the global economic slowdown, health care centers are an opportunity for developers to “change strategy,” Minister for Competitiveness and Regulatory Improvement George Woodbridge told La Prensa.

Retirement communities generate “two to three times” the revenue of traditional tourism and real estate projects, Woodbridge said. A population of 10,000 retirees could produce 40,000 jobs and $340 million in foreign exchange, the government estimates.

Last year, medical tourism attracted 30,000 visitors to Costa Rica, according to government data. That number is expected to increase as health care costs continue to rise. The U.S. is expected to generate 1.3 million medical tourists in 2011, according to a report by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, which ranks Costa Rica in the top 10 destinations for medical tourism.

Until recently, most of the traffic in the past has been young people looking for cosmetic surgery and dental work, not seniors, Deloitte says.

“With health care at the center of attention in the U.S. this concept could certainly gain ground if implemented properly,” Panama developer Sam Taliaferro notes in his Panama Investor Blog. “If Obamacare gets legs one area that you can be sure will be left out in the cold is alternative health care practitioners. I bet they will head south with technology and skills.”

(For the record, the World Health Organization ranks Costa Rica’s health care system at 36th in the world, one spot ahead of the United States.)

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Ricans have elected their first woman president as the ruling party candidate won in a landslide after campaigning to continue free market policies in Central America’s most stable nation.

With most of the votes from Sunday’s election counted, Laura Chinchilla held a 22-point lead over her closest rival. Her 47 percent share of the vote was well beyond the 40 percent needed to avoid a run-off.

The 50-year-old protege of the current president, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias, promised to pursue the same economic policies that recently brought the country into a trade pact with the U.S. and opened commerce with China.

“Today we are making history,” said Chinchilla, who will be the fifth Latin American woman to serve as president when she takes office in May. “The Costa Rican people have given me their confidence, and I will not betray it.”

The closest contender, Otton Solis of the Citizens Action Party, got 25 percent of the votes. He and the other main rival, Libertarian Otto Guevara, quickly conceded defeat.

It was unclear, however, whether Chinchilla’s National Liberation Party would gain a majority in congress.

Analyst Heather Berkman of the Eurasia Group said coalition building without a majority would likely delay or derail controversial fiscal reforms to shore up government finances and energy deregulation.

The third-place candidate, Guevara, congratulated Chinchilla as “our president,” but he also pointed out the new political muscle of his tax-bashing Libertarian Movement Party. He won 21 percent of the vote.

Arias’ economic policies helped insulate Costa Rica from the world economic crisis as he kept a high profile on the world stage as a negotiator in Honduras’ political crisis after a coup deposed President Manuel Zelaya in June.

Read Entire Article Here

The 2,074-page healthcare bill certainly contains a lot to digest. One of the new tax provisions calls for a tax on elective plastic surgery. Costa Rica’s medical tourism has been rising as the costs in North America rise. Chrissie Long from The Tico Times presents a very clear and concise view of the benefits Costa Rica can expect in the wake of U.S. taxation.

By Chrissie Long
Tico Times Staff | clong@ticotimes.net

There’s at least one sector celebrating a proposed tax on plastic surgery in the United States, and that’s the people who cater to medical tourism.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of North Americans look offshore for tummy tucks, facelifts and breast enhancements, knowing they can pay a fraction of the costs they would have to fork over in the United States.

Costa Rica, a three-hour flight from the U.S., has absorbed a large percentage of patients and, with the addition of the proposed tax, medical experts expect a greater influx.

The 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic procedures was proposed as part of the 2,074-page health reform bill presented by the U.S. Democratic Party this month. The tax is expected to generate $5.8 billion to help fund the $849 billion health system overhaul.

But plastic surgeons in the United States have launched a campaign to prevent the tax, arguing that its effects would result in discrimination against women, who represent 86 percent of cosmetic surgery patients there.

“This tax is effectively a ‘soccer mom’ tax that will adversely impact mainstream American wives and mothers, who are the majority of plastic surgery patients,” said Dr. Renato Saltz, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). “As doctors, we understand and appreciate the need for health care reform, but taxing physicians and cosmetic surgery procedures to pay for the reform is not realistic or beneficial.”

ASPS noted that only 10 percent of the respondents on a recent survey reported a household income of over $90,000, “which clearly refutes the suggestion that elective surgery taxes are ‘luxury or ‘sin’ taxes affecting a privileged few,” according to a statement released earlier this month.

The bill was given a nod by the Senate on Saturday, Nov. 21 and will is currently awaiting further debate.

If there’s a way to save money, you can bet the insurance companies will be interested . . .

Dental tourism has become increasingly popular lately, especially with consumers feeling the pinch of the recession. Mexican clinics target US patients. Eastern European practices treat British nationals. It’s big business these days, with Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia offering low-cost dental care to international patients.

We talked recently about how a British company is offering limited dental vacation insurance to protect patients from medical mishaps while they’re out of the country. Well, an American insurance company has now upped the ante!

Based in South Carolina, Companion Life Insurance Co. offers standard insurance products – and now, a little something more for dental patients.

They are adding an “international treatment option” to every one of their US dental plans.

“International Treatment Option”

Here’s what that means: Companion has added three Costa Rica dental clinics to their network.

An offshoot company, Companion Global Dental, will make all travel and treatment arrangements for American patients who want to go to Costa Rica to save money on dental care.

“Do you need dental work? If you’ve priced it lately, it may have come as quite a shock. Companion Global Dental is your gateway to affordable dental care. We give you access to dental services in Costa Rica, where you can get dental care at a fraction of the cost you would at home.”

It’s the standard dental tourism pitch — but this time it’s coming from an American insurance company!

In a press release, Companion Life’s vice president of field marketing, J.C.Preas, said:

“We believe we are the first national dental insurer to provide international travel and care as a value-added option on all of our policies. This option will allow our members to get the dental treatment they need at a credentialed facility, to save significantly on out-of-pocket costs, and even combine an exciting vacation with their dental treatment.”

Doctor, you probably provide excellent quality of care, but you cannot compete with the prices offered by international dentists.

And I know many dentists have no love lost for insurance companies.  But take a moment to imagine: What would happen if all dental insurance companies decided to encourage patients to become dental tourists?

Dental tourism has the potential to change the face of dentistry as we know it. No longer are your competitors located within driving distance… Your competition will be across the entire world.

Source

The latest World Database of Happiness has calculated that Costa Rica is at the top of the list for quality of life out of 148 countries, according to Dutch researchers.

Researchers at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands created the World Database of Happiness, which combines life assessment averages and life expectancy averages. It is an estimate of how long and happy the average citizen will live in that nation.

The latest “happy years” ranking includes 148 countries and covers more than 95 percent of the world population.

Costa Rica tops the list in the class, with an average of 66.7 happy years of life, followed by Iceland with 66.4 years and Denmark 65 happy years.

Canada ranks fifth at 64 years, while he United States is listed at 58 years.

The list also lists the life expectancy for each country.

In Costa Rica the life expectancy is 78.5 years with an 8.5 (out of 10) satisfaction with life. The US and Canada life expectancy is 77.9 and 80.3 and satisfaction with life rate of 7.4 and 8, respectively.

In Central America, Nicaraguans can expect 51 happy years, with a life expectancy of 71.2 and satisfaction with life rate of 7.1; Guatemala 49.8 happy years, a life expectancy of 69.7 and satisfaction with life rate of 7.2: Honduras 48.7 happy years, a life expectancy of 69.4 and 7 and El Salvador, 47.6 happy years, a life expectancy of 71.3 and satisfaction with life rate of 6.7. Panamanians 58.5 happy years, a life expectancy of 75.1 and satisfaction with life rate of 7.8.

Colombians can expect 55.8 happy years, a life expectancy of 72.3 and satisfaction with life rate of 7.7, while their neighbours in Venezuela can expect only 53 happy years, a life expectancy of 73.2 and satisfaction with life rate of 7.2. In Brazil the happy years are 53.6, a life expectancy of 71.7, and satisfaction with life rate of 7.5; Bolivia 42.1 happy years, a life expectancy of 64.7 and satisfaction with life rate of 6.5; Peru 44 happy years, a life expectancy of 70.7 and satisfaction with life rate of 6.3; and in Argentina they can expect 54.9 happy years, a life expectancy of 74.8 and satisfaction with life rate of 7.3

The World Database of Happiness is an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life It brings together findings that are scattered throughout many studies and provides a basis for synthetic work.

The findings are scheduled to be presented at the III Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development World Forum in Busan, South Korea.