Underfunding and federal budget of SUS: preliminary references for additional resource allocation

Abstract

This paper aims to identify new sources of revenue for the additional allocation of resources to meet the population’s health needs fixed in the federal budget expenses, in the context of the Unified Health System (SUS) underfunding process and the negative effects of Constitutional Amendment 95/2016 for this process – verified decrease in the proportion of federal net current revenue destined to SUS. From this perspective, it is necessary to address the problem of underfunding by linking the search for additional resources with new sources of funding with actions and public health services that will be improved, expanded and created, of which criteria are: regarding sources, exclusivity for SUS, non regressive taxing and review of revenue waiver; and, regarding uses, prioritization of primary care as reference of the health care network and appreciation of civil servants in the health area. The result calculated for the sources ranged from R$ 92 billion to R$ 100 billion, higher than the R$ 30.5 billion calculated for uses under the described terms. A documentary research was conducted to collect data from secondary sources, especially in the reports sent to the National Health Council by the Ministry of Health.

Key words
Public Health; Health System Funding; Healthcare Funding; Health Economics