The expenditure plan of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) for the year 2019 will reach ¢4.1 trillion. Nearly 65% of these resources will be used to meet the health needs of the population, while the remaining percentage will be allocated for the requirements of the Disability, Old-Age and Death and Non-Contributory Pensions (RNC) regimes, with 32.6% and 3.7% respectively.
According to Román Macaya, executive president of the CCSS, the budget grew by 7% compared to 2017. This growth, he said, is reasonable considering the investment that is projected for the coming year (30.7%).
Nearly ¢160 million were budgeted to purchase medicines, 6.6% more than in 2018 and it includes high-cost drugs such as: Rituximab, Irbesartan, Factor VIII, Imatinib, Albumin, Amoxilina, Anastrozole, among others.
For medical supplies and materials such as pacemaker, stent, valves, pins, plates, tutors, hearing aids, catheters, ostomy bags, among others, ¢95.85 million are being budgeted.
For next year, the highest expenditure plan will be in vaccines, since that investment will amount to ¢11.66 million, which represents a growth of 6.6% over the previous year. Some the vaccines included are: influenza, combined diphtheria toxoid, pneumococcal conjugate and live chickenpox virus.