Hi Robert,

Thanks for reaching out. It sounds like you are fairly versed regarding the healthcare in Costa Rica. Here are the latest figures.

Your monthly income (based on whichever of the three residence methods you qualified under) is used to calculate your monthly Caja payment. It’s based on a sliding scale:

$1,000 and under is 5.18%.
$1,000 to $2,000 is 6.24%.
$2,000-$3,000 is 8.02%.
Over $3,000 is 10.69%.

However, during your interview, you are given the opportunity to amend your gross income to a net income (deducting things like insurance, food costs, medical expenses, taxes, prescriptions, etc.). It is this new net amount that is then used to calculate your monthly Caja payment.

This payment is for you as a couple. And within the Caja a same-sex couple can qualify together under one income.

My husband and I applied as investors. The figure they used was our income based off of our previous year’s IRS1040 taxes (from the USA). Since that figure was MUCH higher than what we are making now in CR, we were able to get a CPA letter from here stating our new (semi-retired) income and after 2 years we were able to reduce our Caja payment with a more realistic reflection of our current income.

I hope that helps. Best of luck!

-Kathleen Evans
IL Coastal Correspondent