Panel SA: Congress and health companies await solution from the Bolsonaro government for nursing floor

After the STF (Federal Supreme Court) formed a majority this Thursday (15) to keep the national nursing floor suspended, the assessment both in Congress and in the private sector is that the bomb has returned to the government’s lap.

Representatives of health companies say that it will be interesting to observe what political reasoning the Bolsonaro campaign will do in the face of the imbroglio. On the eve of the election, the president, who sanctioned the law without a source of funding in August, will now be able to try to score a goal showing that his government has managed to make the new floor of R$4,750 for nurses feasible. The other option is to go ahead and take the matter off the electoral agenda.

The granting of the new floor is seen as a gesture by Bolsonaro in an attempt to please a category that suffered the effects of the mismanagement of the pandemic and came to be the target of attacks by Bolsonarista militants in 2020 when defending social isolation and the use of masks.

In the surroundings of the Senate president, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), the assessment is that the ball is with the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes. Pacheco and Guedes have already met in recent days talking about the source of funding to fund compliance with the law, but a new meeting should be held to discuss where the money will come from.

Pacheco had already talked to STF minister Luis Roberto Barroso, who earlier this month granted the injunction suspending the new salary floor. Since deciding to suspend the floor, Barroso has reiterated that his decision aims to create, in a consensual way, the source of funding for compliance with the law.

Among the possibilities are the correction of the SUS table, the exemption of the sector’s payroll and the compensation of the states’ debt with the Union.

At the Senate summit, the expectation is that Guedes will meet with the economic team and the ministry’s technicians to come back with a suggestion for an alternative capable of securing resources. The estimate is that this will happen only next week. According to senators, Congress is interested in the solution, not least because the laws were passed there, but the ball is with the government, which needs to find space in the budget.

In a note, Rodrigo Pacheco says he expects a solution soon. “The position of the STF does not bury the national floor of nursing, but suspends it, something that the National Congress evidently did not want. In view of the collegiate decision of the STF, it is now up to us to present the projects capable of guaranteeing the source of funding to states, municipalities, philanthropic and private hospitals. I will call a meeting of leaders immediately and, by Monday, we will present the possible solutions. If necessary, we will hold a specific deliberative session to address the issue even during electoral periods. Congressional commitment to nursing professionals remains firm,” wrote Pacheco.

Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Diego Felix