These days Central America is referred to as the new Sun Belt, because so many American retirees are moving there.

If you are suffering economic hardship in the States, retiring in Ecuador, Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico and above all Panama is a seemingly good move. Cost of living, medical care, taxes are all a fraction of what you would have to spend here. The weather is kind to aging bones, and the sense of adventure in trying something so completely new can give a second wind. Many of those nations have special incentives to lure Americans there, providing financial relief and bonuses for the offshoring expats. 

As always, there are costs attached. Patients with limited mobility or complex medical conditions will not find the care they might need. U.S. wills and estate plans do not necessarily translate into the law of the host country and so need re-configeration. And unfamiliarity with the new language, culture and customs can lead to difficulties at an age where adapting is harder than it used to be.

Another aspect that gets rarely discussed is the cost to the host country. As the terrific article below spells out in more detail, the influx of – comparatively – well-off retirees increases prices for the South American populations to a point where it makes it impossible for them to keep up, not just in rent, or entertainment or some such, but in the most basic necessity like food prices. “Offshoring elders are leaving one kind of inequality in the United States to be the beneficiary of another kind globally.” No easy solutions, no matter where we turn.

https://www.thenation.com/article/inequality-has-gotten-so-bad-were-offshoring-our-grandparents/