Panama's pensionado discounts: law, not marketing — with the conditions attached
25% on air tickets and restaurants, 50% on hotels from Monday to Thursday, 25% on electricity, telephone and water, 20% on medicines and doctor's consultations: the discounts of Law 6 of 1987 are legally enforceable. But every discount has conditions that the lists online leave out — and two percentages doing the rounds are out of date.
Every article about emigrating to Panama mentions "the discounts", usually as a loose list without source or conditions. The real story is stronger and more precise: the discounts are in a law — Law 6 of 1987 — apply nationwide, and are enforced by the consumer watchdog ACODECO, with fines for businesses that refuse. This article gives the percentages with the small print.
For whom
The discounts apply to pensionado residents (with the cédula as proof) and in addition to all seniors in Panama — women from 55, men from 60. So you don't have to wait for your AOW (the Dutch state pension) age: the pensionado status itself opens the rights, regardless of your age.
The percentages — with their conditions
Travel and going out: 25% on air tickets (domestic and international — but calculated on the base fare, not on surcharges and taxes), 30% on public transport, 50% on cinema, theatre, concerts and sports events, 25% in restaurants (15% at fast-food chains), and 50% on hotels — only from Monday to Thursday; at the weekend it's 30%.
Living: 25% on the electricity bill up to 600 kWh per month and on telephone and water — all three only on bills in your own name. Whoever moves into a rented home where the electricity is in the landlord's name leaves this discount on the table; so transfer the connections.
Health: 20% on doctor's consultations (GP and specialist), 20% on prescription medicines — that percentage has stood since Law 30 of 2008 and so is no longer ten-to-twenty — 15% on dentist and optometry, and 15% on bills from private hospitals and clinics. Watch that last one: many lists still mention the condition that you must have no health insurance, but that requirement was scrapped with Law 37 of 2001. So you keep the discount even with insurance. Plus 50% on the closing costs of mortgages and loans, and one percentage point off your mortgage interest on your own home.
Watch what doesn't apply yet
In August 2026 the Asamblea Nacional adopted a bill that would widen the discounts — among other things medicines to 30% and a more generous mortgage discount. That is not yet law: as long as it hasn't been ratified and published in the Gaceta Oficial, the percentages above apply. If you come across a list with higher figures, check whether it's about this bill.
How it works in practice
The key is your cédula: show it when ordering or paying, and the discount should follow automatically. Most businesses know the law; on refusal ACODECO is no empty threat — the agency actively checks and fines — but in practice insisting with the card is almost always enough. For air tickets, request the discount from the airline before booking; claiming afterwards is laborious.
The percentages per category are adjusted now and then. Take the list above as a map, not as a contract: the current table is at ACODECO, and your lawyer or pensionado neighbour knows the latest state of play.
What it really saves
For a retired couple with an ordinary spending pattern — eating out a few times a month, a domestic flight or hotel weekend per quarter, electricity, telephone, medicines — the discounts together quickly knock a hundred to two hundred dollars a month off the bill. That makes them not a nice little extra but a structural part of the budget — and the most honest reason why Panama keeps coming out on top in comparisons of retirement destinations.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change — when in doubt the source is leading, not this article.
- ACODECO — the official interpretation criteria for Law 6 of 1987, per discount category — tableroquejas.acodeco.gob.pa
- Law 30 of 2008 (Gaceta Oficial 26053) — the discount on medicines to 20% — docs.panama.justia.com
- Law 37 of 2001 (Gaceta Oficial 24350) — scraps the insurance condition for hospital bills and regulates the utility discounts — docs.panama.justia.com
- Julisa Jaramillo — the discounts of Law 6 of 1987, per category — julisajaramillo.com
- Newsroom Panama — ACODECO checks the discounts at businesses — newsroompanama.com
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