costa rica The Rush Is On

Remember when Rush Limbaugh, during the U.S. health-care debate, threatened to go to Costa Rica for medical treatment? Well, get in line, Rush.

A lot of U.S. citizens routinely head south for medical care -– 25,000 every year, according to the Christian Science Monitor. As a result, what’s known as “medical tourism” has become a thriving industry in Costa Rica.


So it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that a development group wants to build a “destination” medical center in Liberia, the capital of Guanacaste Province. Sun Ranch, as it’s being called, is to take shape on 2,350 acres conveniently located less than two miles from Daniel Oduber International Airport.

The medical side of the project will include a “world-class” hospital, an assisted-living center, a long-term care facility, a wellness center, and a 200-room “airport/medical” hotel, part of which will be reserved for folks who are recovering from surgery.

Sun Ranch will also have a casino, a spa, restaurants, and a shopping area, not to mention a resort-style hotel, a “branded” luxury hotel, and a convention center.

And for those who’d like to settle down for a while, it’ll have a 500-acre community with single-family houses, townhouses, and condos (tailored mostly to seniors), along with an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

Sun Ranch is being developed by Grupo Do It, which consists, at least in part, of Americans who’ve been working in Costa Rica since the late 1980s. Grupo Do It owns what it calls “the largest retail hardware and construction material business” in Costa Rica, and one of its affiliates, the Do It Center Foundation, provides wheelchairs to people who can’t afford them.

The medical facilities at Sun Ranch will be run by Clinica Biblica Hospital, a non-profit that describes itself as “the largest and most prestigious private hospital in Costa Rica.”

Jones, who’s based in Palo Alto, California, says that the site at Sun Ranch has “the potential to produce a world-caliber layout that will attract golfers from around the globe.”