The bill, which was presented by Representative Zulay Rodriguez, seeks to ensure that insurance company clients are attended to in case they are infected with covid-19, however, policies do not usually provide coverage when the disease is declared as an epidemic or pandemic.

See "Instability, Confusion and Economic Deceleration"

Arturo Saenz, president of the Panamanian Association of Insurers (Apadea), told Prensa.com that "... The exclusion of the epidemic is international. Imposing a law like that would be quite traumatic, because it would leave us without reinsurance coverage. For the purposes of our business, we don't see it as viable."

Amilcar Cordoba, former president of Apadea, also criticized the bill, saying that such proposals "... are against the free market and freedom of contract."

Insurers expect that the impact on health insurance contracts of the coronavirus crisis will not be significant, nor do they foresee great variations in the payment of claims caused by the expansion of infections.

Source: Prensa.com

More on this topic

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Two years after the amendment to the Law of the sector, the insurance market covering risks for short periods at low costs has been consolidated.

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The passing of the bill – which has already been agreed upon - would allow the development of the micro-insurance market and new distribution channels.

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Insurers Aim to Low Income Groups

October 2010

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