Expat insurance
Expat insurance in Costa Rica
Comprehensive cover for people who've actually moved to Costa Rica: multi-year stability, no trip caps, and the proper inpatient/outpatient stack you want when this is home now.
Costa Rica is one of the easiest places in the Americas to base as a nomad: good private healthcare, a generous 180-day tourist entry, and a digital nomad visa that exempts foreign income from local tax. Private care around San José is genuinely good and a fraction of US prices, with English-speaking, often US-trained doctors. The thing to plan for is the visa's insurance line, which sets a hard $50,000 medical-cover minimum for the whole stay. Public care exists but is slow, so private cover plus solid evacuation is the realistic setup.
What expat insurance covers in Costa Rica
Expat insurance is built for expats with a residence permit or long-stay visa, families, retirees abroad. The lines below are the base. Exact terms are carrier-specific, so always check the policy document for the Costa Rica situation you care about.
What you get
- Full inpatient and outpatient medical
- Maternity (with waiting period)
- Dental and vision (add-ons)
- Chronic-condition management
- Multi-year renewals without trip-length resets
What it won't do
- Cover in your home country (limited windows on some plans)
- Pre-existing conditions during initial underwriting
- Cosmetic procedures
What care costs in Costa Rica
A taste of what expat insurance protects you from. The full local cost breakdown lives in the Costa Rica guide.
| Private GP visit | $50 to $80 USD |
|---|---|
| Specialist consultation | $80 to $120 USD |
| X-ray or ultrasound | $40 to $90 USD |
Expat insurance in Costa Rica: FAQ
In most cases Costa Rica expects long-stay residents and visa applicants to show proof of health coverage. The specific bar (carrier, sum insured, residency-vs-travel cover) depends on your visa class; the Costa Rica guide covers the country's current visa-and-residency stance.
Premiums vary by age, plan and deductible far more than by country; the underwriting risk is priced, not the postal code. The Costa Rica guide breaks down local treatment costs so you can see what your insurance protects you from, then run a real quote for your own number.
It depends on your situation: how long you're staying, your visa class, your age and health, and whether you want cashless treatment or are fine with reimbursement. Rather than push one plan, we match you against the options that actually fit a stay in Costa Rica: answer a few honest questions and see only what's relevant.
Other insurance for Costa Rica
Different stages of nomad life need different cover. Here's the full set we've mapped for Costa Rica.
Get matched with expat insurance for Costa Rica
Three minutes of honest questions, then we'll show you the expat insurance options that actually fit your situation in Costa Rica.
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