RESUMO
Objective: This paper discusses issues related to the efficiency and sustainability of public spending on health in Brazil. Despite the achievements of recent decades, the Unified Health System (SUS) faces structural challenges with consequences on the access to public health services and on the financial protection of the population. Methods: The paper provides a brief overview of the public healthcare financing in Brazil over the last ten years and presents an efficiency analysis of the SUS public health spending, using data envelopment analysis (DEA) models for the years of 2013 and 2017. Results: In terms of public spending, the paradox that Brazil spends little but poorly on health still persists. Public expenditures on health are relatively lower than those observed in countries with health systems with similar characteristics, but public expenditures per capita grow at rates higher than the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. In terms of efficiency of public health spending, the analysis shows that there is potential to increase the efficiency of the SUS. In 2017, these inefficiencies amounted R$ 35.8 billion. In general, SUS primary healthcare (APS) is more efficient (63% and 68% in 2013 and 2017) than high and medium complexity care (MAC) (29% and 34% in the same years, respectively). Conclusion: Improving the efficiency of public spending on health is particularly important in the current context of low economic growth and strong fiscal constraints in the post-pandemic environment. Efficiency gains can be achieved with: (i) scale gains in the structure and operation of hospitals, (ii) integration of care in health care networks, (iii) increased density and better distribution of the health workforce, (iv) change in mechanisms and incentives to link payments to providers and professionals to health outcomes, with the PHC as the organizer of the system, (v) innovations in the management of health service providers, with an emphasis on public partnership models and private companies (PPPs) . The consolidation of the SUS depends on public policies to improve the efficiency and quality of services provided to the population.
RESUMO
This paper measures financial protection in health in Brazil by estimating the incidence and describes the profile of catastrophic expenditures and impoverishment due to household out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending. It uses the latest Brazilian consumption survey (POF 2017/2018) to analyze the composition of household health spending and applies two thresholds of household consumption to identify households facing catastrophic expenditures and impoverishment due to health care payments. Results show that a third of households spend more than 10% of their budget on health, and the share of households facing financial hardship is significantly higher among the Brazilian poor (37% among the bottom consumption deciles). Medicines are the main contributor to component of OOP health spending, reaching 85% of all OOP payments for the lowest consumption deciles. Households with women as household head and those with heads with more years of schooling have higher probability of incurring catastrophic health spending. Yearly, more than 10 million Brazilians are pushed into poverty due to OOP health care payments, which represents a larger percentage of individuals (4.87%) than reported globally (2.5%) or among Latin America and Caribbean countries (1.8%). Conclusions: Despite the achievements in implementing universal health coverage in Brazil, challenges remain to guarantee financial protection to its population (especially the Brazilian poor). Policies to expand access and affordability of essential medicines are key to improve financial protection in health in Brazil.
Assuntos
Doença Catastrófica , Pobreza , Brasil , Atenção à Saúde , Feminino , Gastos em Saúde , HumanosRESUMO
Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa--the countries known as BRICS--represent some of the world's fastest growing large economies and nearly 40% of the world's population. Over the last two decades, BRICS have undertaken health-system reforms to make progress towards universal health coverage. This paper discusses three key aspects of these reforms: the role of government in financing health; the underlying motivation behind the reforms; and the value of the lessons learnt for non-BRICS countries. Although national governments have played a prominent role in the reforms, private financing constitutes a major share of health spending in BRICS. There is a reliance on direct expenditures in China and India and a substantial presence of private insurance in Brazil and South Africa. The Brazilian health reforms resulted from a political movement that made health a constitutional right, whereas those in China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa were an attempt to improve the performance of the public system and reduce inequities in access. The move towards universal health coverage has been slow. In China and India, the reforms have not adequately addressed the issue of out-of-pocket payments. Negotiations between national and subnational entities have often been challenging but Brazil has been able to achieve good coordination between federal and state entities via a constitutional delineation of responsibility. In the Russian Federation, poor coordination has led to the fragmented pooling and inefficient use of resources. In mixed health systems it is essential to harness both public and private sector resources.
Le Brésil, la Fédération de Russie, l'Inde, la Chine et l'Afrique du Sud les pays connus sous le nom de BRICS représentent quelques-unes des grandes économies ayant connu la croissance la plus rapide dans le monde et près de 40% de la population mondiale. Au cours des 2 dernières décennies, le groupe BRICS a engagé des réformes de son système de santé pour atteindre la couverture de santé universelle. Cet article aborde les 3 aspects clés de ces réformes: le rôle du gouvernement dans le financement de la santé; la motivation profonde derrière ces réformes; et la valeur des leçons tirées pour les pays non-BRICS. Bien que les gouvernements nationaux jouent un rôle majeur dans ces réformes, le financement privé constitue une part importante des dépenses de santé dans le groupe BRICS. Il existe une dépendance à l'égard des dépenses directes en Chine et en Inde et à l'égard d'une présence importante des assurances privées au Brésil et en Afrique du Sud. Les réformes de la santé du Brésil ont fait suite à un mouvement politique qui a fait de la santé un droit constitutionnel, alors que les réformes en Chine, en Inde, en Fédération de Russie et en Afrique du Sud ont représenté des tentatives visant à améliorer la performance du système public et à réduire les inégalités de l'accès aux soins. Les progrès vers la couverture de santé universelle ont été lents. En Chine et en Inde, les réformes n'ont pas abordé suffisamment le problème des paiements restants à charge. Les négociations entre les entités nationales et infranationales ont souvent été difficiles, mais le Brésil a pu parvenir à une coordination adéquate entre les entités fédérales et étatiques grâce à une délimitation constitutionnelle des responsabilités. Dans la Fédération de Russie, le manque de coordination a entraîné un regroupement fragmenté et une utilisation inefficace des ressources. Dans les systèmes de santé à financement mixte, il est essentiel de maîtriser à la fois les ressources des 2 secteurs: public et privé.
Brasil, la Federación de Rusia, India, China y Sudáfrica, los países conocidos como BRICS, son algunas de las grandes economías que más rápidamente están creciendo y representan casi el 40% de la población mundial. A lo largo de las últimas dos décadas, los BRICS han emprendido reformas en los sistemas sanitarios para avanzar hacia una cobertura universal de salud. Este artículo analiza tres aspectos clave de estas reformas: el papel del gobierno a la hora de financiar la salud, los motivos subyacentes de las reformas y el valor de las lecciones aprendidas de otros países distintos a los BRICS. Aunque los gobiernos nacionales tienen un papel destacado en las reformas, la financiación privada constituye una parte importante de los gastos sanitarios en estos países. Hay una dependencia de los gastos directos en China e India y una presencia significativa de seguros privados en Brasil y Sudáfrica. Las reformas sanitarias brasileñas tuvieron como resultado un movimiento político que hizo de la salud un derecho constitucional, mientras que las de China, India, la Federación de Rusia y Sudáfrica fueron un intento de mejorar el rendimiento del sistema público y reducir las desigualdades del acceso a este. El avance hacia la cobertura universal de la salud ha sido lento. En China e India, las reformas no han abordado adecuadamente el problema de los pagos directos. A menudo, las negociaciones entre las entidades nacionales y subnacionales han sido difíciles, pero Brasil ha sido capaz de lograr una buena coordinación entre las entidades federales y estatales a través de una descripción constitucional de la responsabilidad. En la Federación de Rusia, una mala coordinación ha tenido como resultado una mancomunación fragmentada y el uso ineficaz de los recursos. En los sistemas sanitarios mixtos, es fundamental emplear recursos tanto del sector público como del privado.