Panama Pensionado Discounts Rise to 30% Under New Law

Six weeks after vetoing an earlier version, President José Raúl Mulino signed a law on Nov. 2 that raises Panama's retiree discount on doctor visits from 20% to 25% and adds 30% off radiology and cancer treatment.

The same law tightens who counts among foreign residents. Foreigners now need permanent residence, where the 1987 text said only that they had to be residents.

New lines include lab tests (20%), internet or cable contracts up to $50 (20%), one mobile line up to $30 (20%), residential garbage fees (20%), adult diapers (20%), and accessibility work in the main home (15%).

The figures come from Article 1 of Proyecto de Ley No. 746 as passed in third debate on Oct. 30, 2026, which the Asamblea Nacional quoted in its release that evening, and from La Prensa's and Telemetro's coverage of the signing. Panama Property Guide compared them line by line with the texts of Law 6 of 1987, Law 14 of 2003 and Law 30 of 2008.

What changes at the register

Bill 746 raises three existing discounts, adds at least nine new ones and leaves the 25% restaurant discount where it is. Lines marked "not listed" have no entry of their own in Law 6 today.

Several outlets reported that the medicine discount rises from 10% to 20%. That 10% is the original 1987 figure. Law 30 of 2008 already raised it to 20%, so the real change on prescriptions is that the prescription must now carry the beneficiary's name.

Services at Ministry of Health facilities and health committees fall outside the medical discounts, La Prensa reported on Oct. 30. The hotel, airfare, entertainment and utility discounts already in Law 6 were not among the changes the Assembly listed.

The age the Assembly printed twice

Reports on the law disagree about the qualifying age for foreigners, and the disagreement starts with the Asamblea Nacional's own release of Oct. 30.

Its summary paragraph says foreigners with permanent residence qualify at 57 for women and 62 for men. Further down, the same release quotes the new Article 1, which covers "panameños y extranjeros con residencia permanente" aged 55 or older for women and 60 or older for men, plus all retirees and pensioners.

The article text is what becomes law, and it treats Panamanians and foreigners the same. The 57 and 62 figures have a history: Law 15 of 1992 set them for 1995 onward, and the paragraph survives in printed copies of Law 6, including the one the Ministry of Commerce and Industries hosts today.

Law 14 of 2003 brought the age back down. Published in Gaceta Oficial No. 24728 on Jan. 28, 2003, it says the tercera edad starts at 55 for women and 60 for men, "estén o no pensionados y/o jubilados", whether or not they are retired. Bill 746 keeps that rule.

Residence now has to be permanent

The 1987 law extends the discounts to "extranjeros residentes en el territorio nacional". Bill 746 rewrites that as "extranjeros con residencia permanente en el territorio nacional".

The wording matters most for Friendly Nations applicants. Since Decreto Ejecutivo No. 197 of May 7, 2021, and No. 226 of July 20, 2021, that visa starts with two years of provisional residence, and permanent residence comes with a second application.

On the text as passed, a 60-year-old man in those first two years would not qualify on age unless he also draws a pension. The pensionado visa and the Qualified Investor visa grant permanent residence from the start, and pensionado holders are also covered as pensioners at any age.

Expat forums have argued about this for a decade. A Friendly Nations holder on the expat.com Panama forum wrote about 10 years ago that he got the "Same Discounts" with no pension, after another poster claimed those visas did not get them.

The bill settles the proof. Panamanian and foreign permanent residents of qualifying age, retired or not, show one of three documents: a cédula, a retiree or pensioner card, or the permanent resident card issued by the Tribunal Electoral. No pension letter appears on that list.

Discounts that reach the home

Two of the new lines apply when a beneficiary buys or adapts a home. Bill 746 gives 20% off the fixed notarial charge and 20% off the fixed registry charge on paperwork tied directly to homes that meet the requirements of the preferential-interest regime for retirees, pensioners and older adults.

The second is 15% off materials for basic adaptations in the main home: ramps, grab bars, handrails, non-slip surfaces and bathroom changes. A medical indication or functional assessment is required, general remodeling is excluded, and a cap is left to the regulations.

They sit alongside property benefits already in Law 6 of 1987: 1 percentage point off the interest rate on a mortgage for a home the beneficiary lives in, 50% off loan closing costs, and a property-tax freeze on a home in the beneficiary's name that is their only property.

For a foreign buyer, the residency route decides when those benefits start. The Qualified Investor visa gives permanent residence on a $300,000 new-build purchase, and the pensionado visa needs a pension of at least $1,000 a month and no purchase at all.

When it starts and who enforces it

The text says the law "comenzará a regir seis (6) meses después de su promulgación", six months after promulgation. Until then the discounts in Law 6 as it stands today keep applying, Telemetro reported on Nov. 2.

Promulgation means publication in the Gaceta Oficial. Destino Panamá reported on Nov. 2 that the law was published that day as Law 562, but gave no issue number, and Panama Property Guide could not confirm the issue that day.

Acodeco, the consumer protection authority, can fine businesses that refuse the discounts $50 to $5,000, with the amount doubling for each repeat offense and the money going to a special fund for retirees and pensioners, La Prensa reported on Oct. 30.

Businesses can deduct every discount from their income tax when they file, as they can today. Bill 226, the version Mulino vetoed in September, would have given them a 100% transferable tax credit instead, and that was dropped in committee on Oct. 22.

Several details are left to regulations that have not been written: the cap on home adaptations, the medical certificate for equipment rental, and the restaurant exceptions Telemetro said the rules will set.