Bill 227.

Summary.

Art. 1 proposes to replace the schedule of benefits under Law 6 of June 16, 1987. It would cover Panamanian and foreign resident women aged fifty-five or older, Panamanian and foreign resident men aged sixty or older, and all retirees and pensioners. It establishes a 50% discount for recreational activities and public entertainment, with an exception for specified charitable events. It sets discounts for intercity buses, trains, launches, boats, air travel, and the PANAPASS charge of the National Highway Company (Empresa Nacional de Autopistas) for a beneficiary’s personal vehicle. It also varies lodging discounts by day of the week.

For meals, Art. 1 distinguishes restaurants by type, number of employees, or monthly revenue, includes certain urban fondas, and establishes a discount at national and international fast-food franchises. It assigns municipal mayors responsibility for checking restaurant classifications and ensuring that the benefit is displayed on the premises or in a physical or electronic menu. Health-related benefits cover private hospitals and clinics, medicines, consultations, dental and optometry services, laboratories, imaging, cancer treatment, prostheses, and assistive devices. Insurers whose policies cover illness would have to pass the benefit of these discounts through to eligible insured persons’ premiums.

The same article provides discounts for technical and professional services, loan closing expenses or commissions, interest rates, card annual fees, and insurance policies linked to financial products. It prohibits charges for discount services in the specified loan transactions and exempts those transactions from the surcharge or levy established under the Special Interest Compensation Fund. It further provides an interest-rate reduction on mortgages for the borrower’s own home, except mortgages subject to preferential rates established by law. For a sole residence registered in the beneficiary’s name, it freezes real estate tax and exempts the property from the betterment levy, with provisions addressing a decrease in property value and a subsequent transfer.

The benefits also extend to personal documents, electricity consumption, airport charges, communications, water, and funeral services. Some depend on consumption limits or require a residential account in the beneficiary’s name. The article extends specified benefits to property owned by associations, federations, and confederations of retirees and pensioners. It exempts their nonprofit organizations from specified registration and certification fees at the Public Registry. It also covers registration charges before the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias), the Ministry of Culture (Ministerio de Cultura), and the National Land Administration Authority (Autoridad Nacional de Administración de > Tierras), along with notarial expenses and university admission fees.

Art. 2 proposes dedicated service windows and permanent priority for beneficiaries at state and private companies providing public services. Without a dedicated window, a retiree or pensioner would have priority in the regular queue. Art. 3 adds article 3-A: public, private, and nonprofit health providers would be required to honor the listed scheduled and emergency care for retirees and could not neglect or cancel it without just cause and prior notice. Art. 4 assigns the Consumer Protection and Competition Defense Authority responsibility for imposing fines, deciding complaints, checking that establishments display discounts, and supervising compliance. Fines would go to the Special Fund for Retirees and Pensioners. Art. 6 reiterates the amendment to article 1. The proposal concerns those authorities and municipalities, health providers, transport and lodging operators, food businesses, financial institutions, public utility providers, retirees’ and pensioners’ organizations, and universities.