Ministry of Health increases budget limit for amendments – 03/11/2024 – Power

The Ministry of Health increased the amount that states and municipalities can receive in parliamentary amendments in 2024.

Technicians from the department calculate that the sum of the amendment ceiling for each state and municipality went from around R$55 billion, in 2023, to more than R$100 billion.

The increase reflects changes in the calculation criteria to define this limit, in addition to special rules for poorer municipalities or those in the Legal Amazon.

The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and the center are putting pressure on the Lula (PT) government for more health funds. Members of the ministry believe that the new rules should reduce charges.

The budget available for Health amendments, however, reaches around R$22 billion. In other words, not all municipalities will receive the maximum amount allowed.

In general, parliamentarians concentrate sending funds to their electoral bases. But some of the deputies and senators complained that they were unable to send resources to their strongholds, as the figure indicated exceeded the limit defined by Health.

Lira and leaders from the center even questioned the ministry about how this limit was calculated.

Government members estimate that the ceiling for a few municipalities will be reduced with the new rules, which were published in Friday’s (8) edition of the Official Gazette of the Union.

For basic care, which has actions carried out in places such as health centers, the ministry allowed municipalities with a higher IVS (social vulnerability index) to receive in amendments up to 20% beyond the limit defined by the general rule.

The same benefit to the poorest areas will be applied to specialized care actions, an area that is mainly intended to fund hospitals and outpatient clinics and concentrates most of the Health budget. Furthermore, parliamentarians can contribute an additional 30% of resources to this sector in the municipalities of the Legal Amazon.

“The new rules also allow an increase of up to 14% in amendments for entities that adhere to the Strategic Actions and Compensation Fund (FAEC) programs, related to transplant, oncology and queue reduction programs, among others”, stated the Health.

The Ministry of Health’s budget is a subject of frequent dispute between Congress and the government. Around 40% of the discretionary resources — funds that are not committed to salaries and other obligations — of the department headed by Nísia Trindade are in the hands of Congress. The proportion is similar to that at the end of 2023, but higher than the 23% recorded in 2019.

At the end of February, Minister Nísia Trindade and her team received a group of leaders from the Chamber of Deputies to explain the rules for passing on amendments. Health’s idea was to anticipate parliamentarians’ doubts and avoid a new crisis with the Legislature.

Even with unprecedented control over the Budget, Lira has complained about the pace of implementation of the amendments. “The Union Budget belongs to everyone and not just the Executive, because, if that were the case, the Constitution would not determine the necessary participation of the Legislature in its preparation and final approval”, said Lira at the opening of the legislative year.

The speech by the president of the Chamber reflected complaints from some parliamentarians about the execution of the Executive’s budget at the end of last year, mainly regarding Health resources. During the meeting with deputies, Nísia’s team pointed out that around 98% of the amendment budget of the portfolio was committed in 2023.

There are still complaints about the center with an extra amount distributed by Health from its own budget, that is, without amendments. As shown by Sheetthe ministry privileged PT allies and governments with transfers of around R$1.4 billion.

At a meeting of the CNS (National Health Council) at the end of February, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Health, Swedenberger Barbosa, reacted to pressure from Lira and said that there are attempts by the political world to control the department’s budget. “We don’t need, we shouldn’t and we don’t want to have oversight of any segment of politics over the ministry’s budget,” said the secretary.