(Prensa) An average of 200 claims per month are being filed by tourists under Panama’s program that offers health coverage for a limited time for all visitors that enter the country through Tocumen International Airport.Of those claims, the Generali Insurance Company, which administers the program, has paid benefits in 50 of those cases. The company is also investigating the death of a tourist last month to determine if his heart attack was due to a pre-existing condition.
Starting this year, the government began offering free insurance that covers visitors for the first 30 days that they remain in the country. The program also pays for the costs of transferring a patient to a medical facility outside the country.
In the event of a death, the coverage pays $20,000, though the benefit is not applicable if the death is related to drugs or alcohol.
To date, the government has spent close to $1.3 million to provide this benefit. In the three-year contract signed with Generali, the government pays about $2 for each tourist.
Of the total of claims, 80 percent have been requested by American tourists, followed by residents of Panama living abroad but in the country visiting, Venezuelans, Colombians and Spanish.
Gabriel de Obarrio III, manager of Generali, said the program has generated interest from other countries in the region interested in duplicating it.
Obarrio said he expects claims to increase to an average of 300 per month as the number of tourists grows and as more people become aware of the program.