Strong Colón Squeezes Costa Rica’s Medical Tourism Sector

Costa Rica’s medical-tourism providers are treating about as many foreign patients as before, but the dollar’s fall against the colón has cut revenue from that work by 10% to 15%, according to the Costa Rican Chamber of Health. Patients keep arriving. Their money buys less of what local businesses must pay for.

Providers bill almost all services to foreign patients in U.S. dollars, while paying salaries, social security contributions, rent and suppliers in colones. Rodolfo Garbanzo, the chamber’s president, said the drop already shows up in the financial statements of companies serving medical tourists, as it does across industries paid in dollars. The exchange rate sets the terms, but local costs still have to be met.

The exchange-rate squeeze

The dollar closed at 452.62 colones on Tuesday in the Central Bank’s Monex foreign exchange market. That was more than 50 colones below its level on the same date a year earlier and more than 200 colones below mid-2022, when it traded near 700. With a 50-colone difference, a $10,000 treatment package converts into roughly 500,000 fewer colones, a loss of about 10% before any local cost rises. The colón’s strength reflects a record supply of dollars in the local market.

Central Bank figures cited by the chamber put Costa Rica’s medical-tourism activity at about $465 million in foreign currency annually. The figure covers 70,455 medical tourists spending an average of $6,600 each. Using those numbers as a baseline, the chamber estimates the sector has generated about $9.3 billion and 1.4 million patient visits over the past 20 years.

The chamber says the exchange rate hasn’t damaged Costa Rica’s reputation as a medical-services provider, though the country is becoming more expensive for visitors. Massimo Manzi, the chamber’s executive director, called the currency “without question a challenge” for the country and its companies. About 94% of the sector’s patients come from the United States and Canada. U.S. health care costs remain very high, and insurance coverage is employers’ second-largest expense after payroll, which continues to push more medical tourists toward Costa Rica.

The cost reaches beyond clinics

Households living on dollar income face the same arithmetic. The dollar’s fall below 450 colones has reduced what a fixed pension or salary buys locally. The exchange-rate shift reaches beyond companies’ margins to people whose income is set in dollars while they pay local expenses in colones.

Tourism more broadly brought in a record amount of foreign currency in the second quarter of 2026, according to an analysis by the Center for Tourism Studies based on Central Bank balance of payments data. Converted into colones, that total came to about 601 billion, 7.7% less than the roughly 651 billion colones in the same quarter a year earlier. The analysis used average quarterly rates of about 455 colones per dollar in 2026 and about 505 a year earlier.

Roberto Herrera, the chamber’s first vice president, said some regular tourist traffic also depends on private health care. A significant number of older travelers vacation in Costa Rica because they know they can receive local treatment rather than be evacuated if something happens, he said; private care is available across the country.

The chamber released its revenue estimate as it marked its 10th anniversary. A sector study it cited counted more than 80,000 jobs tied to health and social services, pharmaceutical sales and medical manufacturing, as well as about 1,457 private pharmacies, 555,000 memberships in prepaid medical plans and 599,000 private health insurance policies.

Rules for a revenue stream

Costa Rica established a legal framework for health tourism through Law 10.320, which set rules to promote and regulate the services and gave the chamber a seat on the interinstitutional commission overseeing the sector. The country is also pursuing wellness tourism in Nicoya as a related attraction for high-spending visitors.

The chamber describes the current impact as a matter of margins rather than demand: patients continue to arrive, but each generates less value once dollars reach the bank. The rules and visitor numbers remain in place. Currency conversion decides how much local income comes out the other side.