No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveLegislators pass law on doctor salaries

Legislators pass law on doctor salaries

In a 42-1 vote lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon approved in a first round of debate a draft bill that clarifies that wage incentives for doctors must be calculated on base salaries only and not on gross salaries.

The debate was scheduled to start at 6 p.m., but an agreement was reached to vote at the beginning of Tuesday’s session. “We did it in less than two minutes. It was a good example of political will,” Legislative Assembly President Víctor Emilio Granados, from the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN), said.

“The agreement stems from the broad consensus this bill has, and the need to save an iconic institution that all Costa Ricans care about. We agreed to vote on it without even discussing the bill,” Granados told the daily La Nación.

Lawmaker Elibeth Venegas (PLN) voted against the bill, while Luis Antonio Aiza – also from the PLN and a doctor – left the room to avoid voting.

The current interpretation of the law states that doctor bonuses and incentives for overtime, availability and night shifts are calculated in the final salary, instead of using the base salary.

The Social Security System, or Caja, currently must resolve some 2,000 lawsuits filed by doctors for payment of these incentives. The Caja already has lost more than 300 of the lawsuits, costing the state-run health care system ₡3.5 billion ($7 million).

Trending Now

Costa Rica’s Piangua Mollusk Threatened by Pineapple Farm Runoff

Costa Rica’s Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland, a 33,000-hectare haven of mangroves and rivers, is under siege from an unlikely source: pineapple farms. A study by...

Climate Change in Costa Rica Devastates Coffee Farms in Los Santos

In Costa Rica’s Los Santos region, famous for producing nearly half the country’s coffee, farmers are reeling from heavy losses driven by wild weather....

Costa Rica and U.S. Strengthen Border Scans and Biometric Cooperation

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem met Wednesday with Honduran President Xiomara Castro to discuss security and migration, following her offer in Costa...

Celso Gamboa Allegedly Ran Drug Ring with Costa Rican Government Ties

Celso Gamboa, once Costa Rica’s Security Minister and a Supreme Court judge, now faces extradition to the U.S. for leading a major cocaine trafficking...

Life After MS-13 in El Salvador as Residents Seek a Fragile Peace

Esperanza Martinez lost three relatives who were murdered and saw numerous bodies left in the streets of her neighborhood, a former stronghold of the...

Costa Rica’s Rare Birds at Risk as Human Activity Threatens Extinction

Costa Rica’s bare-necked umbrellabird, a striking black bird with a red throat pouch and crest, is in trouble. A new study in Nature Ecology...
L. Arias
L. Arias
Reporter | The Tico Times |
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica