Quote:
Originally Posted by golfing eagles
Yep, "excellent" healthcare. Note that all over the world royalty, heads of state and billionaires are no longer heading to Boston or NY when ill, they are now flocking to Ecuador  Get real. |
"One of the great perks for foreign residents living in Ecuador is high-quality, low-cost healthcare. Bloomberg recently rated Ecuador as having the 20th most efficient healthcare system among advanced economies, while the U.S. ranked near the bottom in 46th place.
An internet comparison of healthcare costs from around the world found that Ecuador’s costs are the lowest—lower than those in China, Malaysia, India, Mexico, and Panama. In general, you can expect to pay 10% to 25% of what you would in the U.S. For major surgery, we’ve seen a number of cases in which costs were even less than 10% of comparable procedures in the U.S. You will find similar savings for dental care." (International Living dot com)
From what I was able to ascertain by clicking around, Ecuadorian health care is best in the larger cities, spottier in more distant rural areas. also it is two-tier: best in private hospitals and clinics, acceptable (not great) in public facilities. In this respect Ecuador is not unlike Thailand, which also has a two-tier system but which works a bit differently. The Thai government will pay to send promising students to Med school with the understanding that upon graduation they will work for the government in assigned areas providing health care for "x" number of years. They're free to establish business on the side and many do. It is a system that brings extremely affordable and competent health care to more isolated areas. I don't know if Ecuador does this or not but it certainly is possible.
All in all I'd have no qualms living in Ecuador considering what I was able to read about the quality of their health care. There are other considerations of course as well: corrupt judiciary, human-rights issues, and South America is not exactly known for political stability, but their health care is definitely a positive.