JANUARY 04, 2007

THE Good News: A few weeks after a massive chemical fire at the chemical storage facility Químicos Holanda ignited the Caribbean port city of Moín, damage caused by the accident is being repaired. Surface water and ecosystems are getting back to normal, and water has been restored to about 18,000 residents who were left without it following the accident, officials say.

SAVED at Sea: The Costa Rican Coast Guard Tuesday rescued a small fishing boat named Piscis III that was carrying five young fishermen who lost their way after embarking from Playas del Coco, in the northwestern Guanacaste province. The fisherman spent more than a month drifting in the Pacific Ocean after their boat broke down; they survived on turtle meat and blood and made flags out of plastic bags to aid their rescue.

Public Education Vice-Minister José Lino Rodríguez, who was temporarily suspended late last year because of allegations he used his position to secure promotions for family members, resigned yesterday.

Officials reported good news yesterday for the Caribbean province of Limón less than a month after a massive chemical fire near the port of Moín – which officials called one of the worst disasters in Costa Rica's recent history – forced the evacuation of hundreds of area residents and left thousands without potable water.

The Central American airline TACA announced in a statement yesterday that on Feb. 2, it will become the first airline to fly directly between San José and Havana, Cuba.

Education Vice-Minister Resigns Amid Scandal

By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff | kstanley@ticotimes.net

Public Education Vice-Minister José Lino Rodríguez, who was temporarily suspended late last year because of allegations he used his position to secure promotions for family members, resigned yesterday.

The government's Ethics Commission investigated the allegations against Rodríguez and concluded he had violated the Arias administration's code of ethics, according to Rodrigo Arias, the President's brother and spokesman. The Presidency Minister made the announcement at a press conference yesterday.

The case came to light in November after the daily La Nación reported that Rodríguez's wife, ministry employee Monserrat Vindas, received four raises in a single day. On Aug. 1, Vindas, an office worker at Braulio Morales School in Heredia, north of San José, was named a teaching candidate in Paquera, Puntarenas; given an administrative post; named a teacher; and then transferred back to Heredia.

These changes resulted in a salary increase of ¢150,000 ($291.26) per month, the daily reported. The vice-minister, who oversaw the infrastructure and funding of the country's public schools, told the daily the promotions are legal; he also stated that his wife turned down the raise, continued to work in the primary-school office, and then took disability leave.

I n his resignation letter, copies of which were provided to the press, Rodríguez said he had “thought about the negative consequences (these) accusations could generate for the government and my family, in view of the fact that most of (my family members) are Education Ministry officials, not because of favors, but as part of careers in education.”

Rodrigo Arias said the President has accepted Rodríguez's resignation in light of the commission's findings. A new vice-minister had not been named by press time.

The President established the Code of Ethics and the independent Ethics Commission in a decree he signed shortly after taking office in May. Its members are Dora María Guzmán, who was the first woman justice on the Supreme Court; Leticia Chacón, a former legislator; and Hernán Vega, former president of the Costa Rican Lawyers' Association.

Gov't Reports Improvements
After Moín Chemical Fire

By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff | kstanley@ticotimes.net

Officials reported good news yesterday for the Caribbean province of Limón less than a month after a massive chemical fire near the port of Moín – which officials called one of the worst disasters in Costa Rica's recent history – forced the evacuation of hundreds of area residents and left thousands without potable water.

Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias told reporters that of the 20,000 left without water, service has been restored to all but 2,000. He said investigations by the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) have shown that surface waters and ecosystems near the site of the accident “are returning to normal,” and that MINAE officials continue monitoring the area.

A team of health-care workers from the Public Health Ministry continues to visit communities in the area as a preventive measure, checking for reactions to the fire, which erupted Dec. 13 at a chemical storage facility belonging to Químicos Holanda Costa Rica S.A. Tanks of the flammable chemicals toluene and xylene exploded, sending a wide column of smoke into the air above the province and injuring three plant workers, two of whom died within days (TT, Dec. 15, Dec. 22, 2006). The third, Albert Sánchez, 33, is out of intensive care and in the plastic surgery unit at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in San José, according to hospital staff.

A total of 13 people have reported respiratory problems related to the fire to the Health Ministry, Arias said Wednesday.

Investigations after the fire showed welding work conducted near a tanker truck being filled with toxic chemicals caused the blaze, which lasted nearly 11 hours.

TACA Announces Direct Flights to Havana

The Central American airline TACA announced in a statement yesterday that on Feb. 2, it will become the first airline to fly directly between San José and Havana, Cuba.

The airline will offer flights between the two cities on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, leaving San José at 10:45 a.m. and arriving to Havana at 2:05 p.m. The return flights to San José will leave Havana at 3:20 p.m. and arrive to San José at 4:40 p.m. The route will be serviced by an A-320 Airbus plane.

In addition to serving passengers traveling from Costa Rica to Cuba, the flight will also offer connections for those traveling to this Caribbean island from other Central American countries and Mexico, the statement said.

TACA decided to open up the direct Havana route to “offer our Central American users, especially Costa Ricans, direct access to one of the most charismatic cities in Latin America,” said TACA communications director Claudia Arenas, according to the statement.

A search on TACA's Web site found that the round-trip flights start at $330.

-Tico Times

2006 Sees Lowest Inflation in 10 Years

Costa Rica ended 2006 with 9.43% inflation, the lowest rate in the past decade, according to a statement released yesterday by the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC).

During the month of December, inflation registered 1.02% because of increases in the prices of food and beverages, health services, entertainment and shoes, among other goods and services.

The 9.43% inflation recorded last year is the lowest in the last decade, falling below the 9.68% recorded in 2002 and the 9.87% recorded in 2003.

The highest inflation in the past 10 years was 14.07% registered in 2005, followed by 13.13%, registered in 2004.

Last year, INEC recalculated its formula for the consumer price index (CPI) by redefining the goods that make up the index, which had not been updated in 20 years. The Internet, cell phones and tourist packages were included in the index for the first time.

-ACAN - EFE

When you buy any insurance, there is always an “insured amount” or “insured value” stipulated on the policy; this means the maximum amount the insurance company will pay for your claims, under the terms of the contract. For example, if, like many members of our foreign community, you have a Plan 16 medical policy with an insured amount of ¢8 million, that sum is the most the National Insurance Institute (INS) will pay for your health in the policy year. When you renew the policy each year, you wipe the slate clean and start with a fresh ¢8 million.

Plan 16 was designed basically for coverage within Costa Rica, so the insured amount is in local currency, colones. In 1990, when Plan 16 was first available, the insured amount was ¢1 million, which at the time was the equivalent of nearly $12,000 – pretty good coverage in those days, before medical costs escalated.

During the 1990s, as inflation kept eroding the purchasing power of the colón, every few years INS would raise the maximum insured value. The last time was in 1999, to ¢8 million. In January 1999, ¢8 million was equivalent to nearly $30,000, and this still went a long way. Today, however, ¢8 million is equivalent to $15,400, and it simply doesn't cut the mustard if someone has a serious accident or a lingering ailment.

At this time last year, INS announced it was going to “freeze” Plan 16 coverage at a maximum of ¢8 million, but that premiums would continue to rise, following inflation – and in this manner Plan 16 would be phased out. We INS agents were asked to encourage our clients to convert to a new medical policy called INS Medical, in which coverage is stated in U.S. dollars and which has lower deductibles and other advantages over Plan 16, making it an intelligent choice. This still stands – INS Medical is still the best choice for most people.

But INS has just flip-flopped about Plan 16. For 2007, it has increased the maximum insured amount to ¢10 million (this will be done automatically, i.e., those people who had ¢8 million in 2006 will get ¢10 million as of Jan. 1, 2007), and the premiums, in colones, will increase an average of 25%.

What happened? Early in 2006, we heard unofficially that INS was working on a new type of medical policy called seguro médico flexible (flexible medical insurance). In August, INS invited a select group of agents – including yours truly – to a conference about the new product. What it outlined was no better than Plan 16 and a far cry from INS Medical. So the assembled agents gave their opinion, and we believe that is why INS “killed” the flexible project and are back to sprucing up Plan 16 – which, as I have said, is quite inferior to INS Medical.

Claim Procedures

Starting in 2005, INS changed the usage of medical insurance cards. Previously, people who needed a minor treatment would select an affiliated doctor from a list. After the treatment, they would proffer their INS insurance card, which would take care of 70-80% of the bill, and they would pay only the deductible (20-30%) to the doctor. For larger, more expensive ailments, doctors would want to receive their money up front, so they would find 1,001 excuses why they couldn't accept the card, and the patient would have to pay the entire bill, then do the paperwork to claim for reimbursement and wait a month or two to get his or her money from INS.

From the standpoint of INS, this had three notable disadvantages: they were processing mountains of claims and – incredibly – not even INS bureaucrats like paperwork; some doctors made medical mountains out of molehills, and were brazenly overcharging INS for the treatments they administered; and as it was easy to use the INS card for minor ailments and purchases, lots of people were abusing the insurance – I even heard of people using their INS cards to buy dental floss!

So, in 2005, INS changed the use of the card. Now, if someone has a serious medical situation, they should instruct their doctor to obtain from INS a “preauthorization,” which means that the medic and INS agree on a price, and then the patient can use his or her card to pay the lion's share of the bill – only the deductible has to be settled. For minor expenses, the patient has to pay the bills and then prepare and present the paperwork for the claim, and wait for reimbursement. This, for dental floss, is hardly worthwhile.

In this manner, INS solved the three problems it was experiencing and, from the standpoint of an organization not known for being service-oriented, everything was hunky-dory. Clients with minor ailments are not so happy, because they can no longer use their INS cards and their paperwork has increased. But for clients who need major treatment – which is basically what medical insurance is for – the benefits of the change become obvious: they will not be overcharged and can use their INS cards to cover most of the cost.

Contact David Garrett at 233-2455 or info@InsuranceCostaRica.info. The purpose of this column is to give the reader a better understanding of insurance in Costa Rica. The opinions and viewpoints expressed are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Insurance Institute (INS).