Health care for you and your family

Panama has two public health networks: the Ministry of Health, MINSA, and the Social Security Fund, CSS. As an employee you are in the CSS from your first pay slip. The worker share is 9.75 percent of salary. Since April 2025 the employer pays 13.25 percent, rising to 14.25 percent in March 2027 and 15.25 percent in March 2029, under the 2025 reform of the CSS law.

1. CSS Organic Law, Law 51 of 2005
2. TVN, the CSS on the staged employer contribution, press

Your coverage reaches your family as dependents: a spouse who lives with you and depends on you economically, and your children up to 18, or up to 25 while they study and depend on you entirely. Children with a disability that began before 18 stay covered while it lasts. Register them at the CSS with their documents once they hold their own residence cards.

We read these rules in the press coverage of the 2025 reform; we will replace this source with the consolidated law when it is published.

1. TVN, CSS reform, second block, dependents, press

If you come through the company route and pay yourself no salary, or you work remotely for a firm abroad, you are not on a Panamanian payroll. The CSS lets people outside the mandatory scheme join voluntarily, with a contribution set as a share of the income they declare. Ask us which applies to you before you assume you are covered.

1. CSS, voluntary members

Many working families add a private policy, through the employer or on their own. Only companies licensed by the Superintendency of Insurance and Reinsurance may sell it, and its list of insurers is public. Individual health premiums have been rising: in 2025 the Superintendency approved increases of 20 percent at some insurers and up to 31.5 percent at others, the press reported. Read the exclusions and the renewal terms before you sign.

1. Superintendency of Insurance and Reinsurance, licensed insurers
2. La Prensa, individual health premiums rise, press

Panama’s insurance law requires people and companies domiciled here to insure people and property in Panama with insurers authorized here. The exceptions are narrow: a treaty that says otherwise, a cover that does not exist in Panama, or a refusal by the local insurers, with the Superintendency’s permission. The fine for buying from an unauthorized company is ten times the yearly premium, and the contract is void. If your employer abroad gives you an international policy, have us check it once you settle here.

1. Law 12 of 2012 on insurance, articles 153 and 276

Two hospitals in Panama hold Joint Commission International accreditation, both in Panama City: Pacífica Salud Hospital Punta Pacífica and Clínica Hospital San Fernando. Outside the capital the large hospitals are public, run by MINSA or the CSS, such as the Rafael Hernández regional hospital in David.

1. Joint Commission International, accredited organizations in Panama
2. Ministry of Health, health facilities 2023

Dial 9-1-1 from any phone, even one without credit. One number connects you to medical help, police, fire, rescue and mental health care. Law 120 of 2019 created the system and joins the CSS, MINSA, the National Police, the Fire Department, civil protection and the Red Cross; SUME runs the ambulances.

1. Law 120 of 2019