The medical and social service experts who work in cases in which the INSS (National Social Security Institute) is a party in the Federal Court are not receiving payment for the expertise carried out this year, according to the IBPS (Brazilian Institute of Social Expertise). The category continues to work, but with no prospect of when the amounts will be paid off.
The deadlock in the payment of medical expertise has occurred since September 23, the deadline for the government to bear the costs, according to law 13,876 of 2019. INSS is part would be funded by the Executive Power for up to two years. The deadline expired in September 2021 and payments are no longer made.
According to the IBPS, at the end of December, the investigations that had been scheduled until September 23, 2021 were paid off. These exams took place in the last three months of the year. The other exams carried out until then were not paid.
The impasse seemed to have come to an end with the publication of law 14,331 in early May. The new legislation determines that the federal government will bear the medical expertise in actions in which the INSS appears as a party for granting or reviewing benefits such as sick pay and BPC (Benefit of Continued Provision), as long as it loses the process.
In practice, the Executive will pay for the necessary expertise and, at the end of the process, if the insured is defeated and if he is a beneficiary of free Justice, the payment is on behalf of the Executive. Otherwise, the citizen will have to bear the cost. However, for the amounts to be released, it is necessary to approve another project, which is already being processed in Congress, but which still has no rapporteur and no date for voting.
In the PLN (Bill of the National Congress) 13, of 2022, which aims to regularize the situation, the forecast is to spend R$ 312.7 million with medical expertise this year. According to IBPS calculations, amounts above BRL 100 million were not paid to professionals in 2022.
It is estimated that the country currently has more than 4,000 experts who work in the Federal Judiciary without being paid for their work. The category involves doctors and also social workers. On average, doctors do 10 to 20 forensics a day. The cost is R$ 200. Social workers, on the other hand, carry out an average of two forensic examinations per day, as these professionals often have to travel and the exams take longer.
Social expertise occurs in actions involving the granting or review of BPC (Continued Benefit Benefit), when it is necessary to assess the social condition of the insured, in addition to the general situation in the case of people with disabilities who go to court in search of the benefit.
Council of Justice confirms that it did not pay amounts
In a note, the CJF (Council of Federal Justice), responsible for transferring funds to the TRFs (Federal Regional Courts), where they are housed by the Federal Special Courts, states that the expertise “named” after September 24, 2021 had normal payment. Regarding the values ​​of the exams carried out in 2022, the body says that, in actions in which the INSS is not a party, payment occurs normally. In the others, the values ​​were not actually paid.
“When the INSS is a party and the granting of assistance benefits to the disabled person or social security benefits arising from work incapacity is discussed, the payment is conditioned to the granting of the additional credit pending in the National Congress, through PLN 13/2022”, says note.
The council also states that, on average, 22,000 forensic examinations are carried out per month and confirms that the additional credit requested in PLN 13 pending in Congress for the year 2022 is R$312 million.
Sought after, only TRFs 5 and 3 (Federal Regional Courts of the 1st and 3rd Regions) responded to questions from the Sheet. The TRF-5, which serves states in the Northeast, reported that “it does not transfer resources to experts” and that the responsibility lies with other bodies.
SP court sought solution in 2021
The TRF-3, responsible for the states of São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul, stated that, in 2020, 85,252 forensics were carried out in the actions in progress and in 2021, more than 88 thousand. “It is worth remembering that the expertise was affected in the most acute periods of Covid-19”, says a note from the court.
In 2022, adding up courts and tribunals, the 3rd Region has already carried out 35,000 investigations. In all, there are 3,249 registered experts. The body informs that, after the deadline of law 13.876/2019, in September 2021, the Federal Court ran out of budgetary resources for the cost of expertise.
“In some subsections, the carrying out of expertise was maintained, with different alternatives adopted to solve the lack of funding, from parties who decided to advance payment to the experts, as well as experts who agreed to carry out the expertise, in the expectation of receiving the amounts in the future” , says the TRF-3.
The Ministry of Labor and Welfare reported that “judicial expertise carried out between September 20, 2021 and the date of publication of the law will be paid by the Executive Branch, in accordance with Law No. settlement of debts with judicial expertise.
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