If you’re registered in the VA Foreign Medical Program (FMP), medication for your service-connected conditions is covered in Costa Rica. The real question is how you get it — and how much work it takes. There are two ways.

Option 1: pay cash and wait for reimbursement

Buy your medication at any pharmacy, keep the prescription and an itemized receipt with all the details the VA requires, file VA Form 10-7959f-2, and wait for the VA to process your claim and send reimbursement — a U.S. Treasury check if they don’t have a U.S. bank account on file for you. It works, but you front the money every month, and one missing document delays everything.

Option 2: use a pharmacy that bills the VA directly

Farmacia Adela S.A. — the pharmacy behind Veterans Pharmacy Costa Rica — is enrolled as a provider with the VA Financial Services Center and files FMP claims directly. The VA pays us, so for covered medications you pay nothing and never fill out a claim form. This is exactly the arrangement the VA describes on its own claims page: when the provider files for you, the VA pays the provider.

What you need to get started

First, FMP registration — Form 10-7959f-1. Not registered or not sure? We’ll walk you through it at no charge. Second, a prescription from a licensed doctor for your service-connected condition — we can connect you with English-speaking doctors who know the VA’s requirements. Third, a WhatsApp message. We deliver to your door or by bus shipment anywhere in Costa Rica, and we serve veterans in Nicaragua through our partner pharmacies there, with the same direct VA billing. Read more about FMP for veterans in Nicaragua →