Universal Coverage in a Middle Income Country: Costa Rica

Overview

The  provision  of  healthcare  services  and  the  management  of  the  various  regimes  of  social security  within  the  Costa  Rican  healthcare  system  are  sustained  in  the  creation  of  the  Caja Costarricense  de  Seguro  Social  or  CCSS  (Costa  Rican  Social  Security  Administration)  in  1941, which  was  declared  an  autonomous  institution  two  years  later  and  enabled  in  1949,  by  the Costa  Rican  Political  Constitution,  to  universalize  social  security  services  in  favor  of  the  workers who  reside  in  the  national  territory  and  responsibly  pay  for  social  security  (CPCR,  Art.  73,  74, and  177). 

This report is part of a series, The World Health Report 2010 Background Papers, which were written to inform the process of developing the key messages of the World Health Report 2010: Health systems financing: The path to universal coverage.