A draconian situation in Costa Rica was recently reported by Jimena Soto of online news daily CRHoy.com, and it involves a denial of public health care to a foreign woman who is pregnant with the child of her husband of four years, who happens to be a Costa Rican citizen.

 

According to the news report, the husband of the Nicaraguan woman who was summarily denied benefits by La Caja,  Costa Rica’s treasured and troubled public health care system, is currently contributing to the social security regime by virtue of being a wage worker on a payroll. Despite this fact, an Ebais (public clinic) in the former capital city of Cartago refused to enroll this woman, who is with child, because of a Kafkaesque, Catch-22 rule found in a document titled Enrollment and Benefit Manuals, which was approved by La Caja’s Medical Administration on October27, 2014.

 

The aforementioned manual ominously states that immigrants are excluded from public health benefits in Costa Rica. The problem seems to be highly bureaucratic since Article 20 of the manual states that immigrants must have a Documento de Identificacion de Migrante Extranjero (DIMEX or residency card) in order to receive health benefits from La Caja. Under this situation, a pregnant Canadian woman married to a Costa Rican citizen would also be denied public health benefits until she gets her DIMEX card, thereby creating a problem insofar as denying her unborn baby from prenatal care.

 

Legislator Mario Redondo of the minority Democratic Christian Alliance is looking into this situation, and he is livid. He stated:

 

“We will not tolerate this transgression against people who are married to Ticos and who are working towards legalizing their immigrant status. This is a matter of social justice; if a foreigner is married to Costa Rican citizen, La Caja has no legal basis to deny his or her rights.”

 

The matter above has caused controversy in social media circles, particularly since it is unfolding during the holidays and is being perceived as a Grinch-like situation. Many commenters have suggested that the woman could seek free health benefits in Nicaragua based on the denial by Costa Rica, and she could later return to our country with her baby so that he or she can become a Tico citizen by means of familial ties. Alternatively, she could seek private health care, a growing trend in Costa Rica.