Brazil spends daily $0.92 per person on health care

A survey by Brazil’s Federal Council of Medicine reveals that Brazil spends a daily $0.92 per capita to cover health costs incurred by the country’s more than 207 million people. The amount includes initiatives and services offered by the government at federal, state, and city level in the last decade.

The value is reported to come as a result of an in-depth examination of data on public accounts for 2017. The calculation also indicates that the amount spent on health care stood at $336.49 per person all across the country in the same year.

Discrepancy

According to the survey, from 2008 to 2017, per capita public spending on health care in Brazil did not increase above the country’s official inflation—which rose 80 percent during the period.

The document highlights that, despite hikes averaging three percent in the 10-year period—leading to an accumulated 26 percent growth—the reduction in per capita spending stands at nearly 42 percent. Should the amount be adjusted for inflation as of 2008, the yearly expenditure per person—$336.49 in 2017—would surge to $476.29.

“Genocide”

Lincoln Lopes Ferreira, head of the Brazilian Medical Association, argues that the figures presented in the survey are overwhelming evidence of the state’s “insufficiency” and “inefficiency” in providing the necessary answers to the issues facing the sector in the last ten years. “They point towards a genocide,” he said.

President of the National Doctors’ Federation Jorge Darze reinforced the argument, describing the situation in health care—defined as a right of the population and a duty of the state under the Constitution—as “critical” and “paradoxical.” “We’re before a genocidal scenario,” he said. “Many have untimely lost their lives without having had the chance to find treatment,” he added.

Brazil spends a daily $0.92 per capita to cover health costs incurred by the country’s more than 207 million people. - Valdeir Rodrigues/Prefeitura de Mineiros(GO)

Cap on spending

Carlos Vital, president of the Federal Council of Medicine, said expects the amendment on the cap on public spending—which curbs expenditure in Brazil for 20 years—to be revised by the new government. He also criticized the appointment of ministers for the Health Ministry based on “political matters,” and argued for choice to be based on another perspective.

Ministry

In a note, the Ministry of Health declared it is not familiar with the method used for the calculation of per capita spending on health care in the country. In 2017, the ministry reported, public spending on initiatives and services in the sector stood at $349.41 per capita, up 119 percent from 2008’s $159.32. “In other words, above the inflation in the period (80 percent),” the ministry maintained.

The ministry argues it applies the values set by the Constitution—15 percent  observes what is mandated by the Constitution, guaranteeing amounts above the constitutional floor of 15 percent of the federal government’s net current revenues plus inflation.