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After fierce debate, bill expanding benefits for retirees goes to Panama’s executive branch
🇵🇦 Panama /Economy & Trade

After fierce debate, bill expanding benefits for retirees goes to Panama’s executive branch

From TVN Panamá · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Approved/passed
  • Panama’s National Assembly approved Bill 226 in its third debate, sending it to President José Raúl Mulino for a decision.
  • The bill would update discounts and benefits for retirees, pensioners and older adults, including raising the medicine discount from 20% to 30%.
  • Retiree advocates support the measure, while private-sector representatives warn that the changes could hurt pharmacy costs and profitability.

Panama’s proposed expansion of discounts for retirees and older adults has reached President José Raúl Mulino after passing its third debate in the National Assembly, but the measure remains sharply contested.

Bill 226 would update the percentages for discounts and benefits available to retirees, pensioners and older people when buying goods and services. Its most debated provision would increase the discount on medicines from 20% to 30%.

The Bill 226, which we hope will receive the president’s full approval, is a law that affects not only pharmacies but many other sectors.

— Orlando Pérez, National Union of Pharmacy OwnersPérez argued that the proposed benefits would create broader economic pressure.

Retirees and supporters of the bill are asking Mulino to approve it, describing the proposal as a matter of social justice and a way to ease the pressure of living costs on older people. Guillermo Cortés of the Movimiento Mundos de Jubilados urged the president to review the bill and sanction it.

Small pharmacy owners and other private-sector representatives have called for a full veto. Orlando Pérez of the National Union of Pharmacy Owners said the medicine discount would affect not only pharmacies but the wider economy because businesses would need to absorb the reduction through their daily cash flow.

Review the bill, which we know complies with everything, sanction it and make it part of that social justice.

— Guillermo Cortés, Movimiento Mundos de JubiladosCortés urged the president to approve the legislation on behalf of retirees.

The bill would allow the discounts and concessions to be deducted in full as income-tax credits. Those credits could also be transferred through assignment. Supporters have argued for broader policies as well, including adjusting pension incomes to living costs and increasing food production to lower prices and improve retirees’ purchasing power.

The executive branch can now approve the bill, reject it fully or partially, or take another course available under the legislative process.

It automatically affects not only the economy of pharmacies but that of the country, because when a discount is given, commercial sectors have to find somewhere to make up for it.

— Orlando Pérez, National Union of Pharmacy OwnersPérez described the potential impact of raising the medicine discount.
About this summary

Originally published by TVN Panamá in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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