COSTA RICA NEWS – The Board of Directors of the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS), commonly known as the Caja, adopted amendments to allow same-sex couples to share health benefits.
On Thursday, the CCSS board confirmed that changes that would extend public health benefits to include family members of same-sex couples, provided they are properly registered.
The condition for registration is that the couple must demonstrate at least three years of cohabitation (living together).
Gustavo Picado, financial manager Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), said that the process will be
The change affects some 15.000 gay couples in the country.
Additional reforms approved by the CCSS Board improves controls of existing coverage, ie. that benefits are extended to those who really qualify.
The implementation of the changes will be up to each CCSS Médica y Financiera de la Caja (Medical and Financial Managers), and will be in effect once they are published in the official government newsletter, La Gaceta.
The CCSS press office did not specify a time period when the changes will be published.
Costa Rica has not legalized gay marriage or civil unions. A bill on gay civil unions has been pending in the Legislative Assembly for years.