Política de austeridade no Município do Rio de Janeiro e seus impactos no orçamento das políticas de saúde

Abstract

In view of the financial crisis faced by the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, its budget in the years 2017 and 2018 was analyzed to identify the application of the austerity policy and its impacts on the health system budget. The execution of fiscal policy during the two years, with a focus on discrepancies between the expected and spended values and on the budget variation between the two years, was analyzed. In 2018, the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro increased its revenues to a greater extent than its expenses grew, by increasing taxes and reducing the budget in several areas, including the health system. In both years, several distortions were observed between the Annual Budget approved by the Legislative and the budget executed by the Executive, with increased spending on non-priority services, such as advertising, to the detriment of strategic actions and programs in areas such as health, education and social assistance. Budget cuts were made directly in some sectors and in a disguised way in sensitive areas for the population, such as health. The impacts of the austerity policy on health already extend beyond budget reduction, with cuts in supply and quality of services provided to the population. These identified distortions reinforce the need to improve society's instruments for monitoring the public budget, as well as strategies for their intervention.