Costa Rica: 20% lottery profits for palliative care
Deputy Jonathan Acuña, a member of the Frente Amplio faction, is leading a legislative initiative alongside the Palliative Care Association to ensure the sustainability of organizations that provide critical support to patients with terminal illnesses. The bill seeks to channel 20% of the net profits generated by the electronic lottery of the Social Protection Board (JPS) directly to clinical associations with fewer resources.
The proposal, registered under file 25.423, suggests reforming Article 14 of Law N.° 8718. The main focus is to strengthen the financing of entities whose annual budgets are less than 80,000 Escalated Development Units (UDES) of the Central Bank of Costa Rica. According to the text, these additional funds would have a specific and mandatory purpose: the hiring of specialized human capital, the acquisition of advanced medical equipment, and the supply of essential medicines.
This measure arises as an urgent response to the financial crisis affecting the sector. Currently, palliative care largely depends on Article 13 of the aforementioned law, which grants 50% of the profits from the instant lottery. However, the sustained decline in sales of traditional "scratch cards" has led to a drastic drop in income, leaving many associations in a situation of extreme vulnerability.
In this regard, Deputy Acuña pointed out that many organizations are operating with cuts of up to half of their usual budget from the JPS, which jeopardizes the quality and continuity of clinical and social support services. The initiative emphasizes that much of this work is carried out by volunteers and staff working pro bono, filling gaps that the public health system cannot always cover due to its own budgetary restrictions.
While the JPS Board of Directors will maintain its power to define the prize plans for electronic modalities, the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica now begins the analysis of this redistribution of benefits. If approved, a new financing model would be established that leverages the growth of digital games to sustain one of the most sensitive areas of the Costa Rican social welfare ecosystem.
Tags: Costa Rica, Costa Rica lotteries, palliative care Costa Rica