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A recent edition of the Panama Star mentions the cost of living in Panama compared to Canada. This is pertinent because of the free trade negotiations between Canada and Panama as well as direct flights soon to start between the two countries. On issue is medical tourism. Canada has public health care. Unlike the United States there are no uninsured in Canada. Thus, unless a Canadian wants to jump the line with private health insurance health care is free at home.

Medical Tourism in Panama

Medical tourism is flourishing in Panama. For United States uninsured persons a trip to Panama for an elective surgery by a US or Canadian trained and certified surgeon pays for itself and then some with the cheaper medical and surgical cost.

The number of uninsured Americans is staggering. The cost of care in the USA is staggering. The cost of most elective surgical procedures in Panama is less than half of what one pays in the USA. Many Panama physicians and surgeons are US trained and many of the hospitals in Panama City have state of the art equipment, training, and staff.

Johns Hopkins medical center has a branch medical center in Panama City in conjunction with Punta Pacifica Hospital where state of the art health care is the norm and not the exception. Panama City is a referral center for medical problems from all over Latin America.

However, Canadians can go directly to McGill University for their surgery instead of traveling to Panama to see a McGill trained surgeon. And the Canadian gets his care for free in Canada. For Panama medical tourism it is hard to compete with free. Panama will just have to keep promoting medical tourism to those uninsured from the lower 48 states.

The issue of Panama cost of living also applies to Canada and Canadians relocating to Panama. With the current economic crisis Canada is doing pretty well because its banks, like those of Panama, are pretty conservative and did not blow all their money on sub prime mortgages. However, the “loonie” or Canadian dollar has dropped in value versus the US dollar. Since Panama uses the US dollar (Balboa) Canada’s housing has become less expensive in relation to the housing in Panama and in some case is becoming equivalent.

Panama is still a tropical paradise so it is hard not to imagine folks from the cold of Canada moving to Panama. However, they will not come for medical tourism and they may not come because of lower housing costs.

The cost of living in Panama has gone up over the last years with inflation. However, cost of living is dropping again as gas prices followed by electric bills decline. Economists expect the cost of living in Panama to come down some more in a few months as the cost of expensive oil works its way out of the production chain.

Cost of living in Panama has gone up but cost of living in Panama is still cheaper than the USA and Europe. Baring health care and housing Panama still beats the cost of living in Canada too. Panama does not have high heating bills in the depths of January. Panama has trips to the beach in January.