Target for 2024 is to reduce the wait to 30 days. How will the INSS be?
A year later, during an event in Brasília to open the training course for those approved in the latest INSS competition, Lupi stated, however, that the goal for 2024 is to reduce the wait to 30 days. Currently, the queue for the analysis of requests for assistance or pension benefits reaches almost 50 days.
To journalists this Wednesday, the minister stated that he never literally said to clear the queue but to reduce the waiting time to the 45 days defined by law. “I never said to clear it; I always said to set a 45-day deadline.
Why do I say it will never be cleared? Because every month, 900,000, 1 million initial requests enter, so every month you keep processing; another 900,000, 1 million requests enter,” he declared.
Even admitting that expectations may be one thing but reality is quite another, the minister guarantees that he met the goal.
However, the latest available official data from the Previdenciária Transparency Portal (until September) indicate that the queue has decreased from 1.8 million retirement requests to just over 1.6 million.
According to the minister, only in March, 1.8 million requests were made, waiting on average 110 days. “But now, the average is 49 days, and I guarantee it will reach 30 days in 2024,” Lupi said during the event.
Tools In a recent interview, the minister talked about tools such as the Documental Analysis of Temporary Disability Benefit (Atestmed), which has been reducing the queue for temporary disability benefit requests (formerly sickness benefit), ensuring the granting of benefits through a faster document analysis.
“Those with the My INSS platform, either go to an agency, or call 135, sending a copy of this medical certificate; you don’t need to go for a new examination.
The examination is already there, verified by doctors; we trust Brazilian doctors. This already significantly improves the queue flow.”
Lupi also mentioned the sanctioning of the law that allows INSS medical exams via telemedicine by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
According to him, this has become another useful tool in reducing the queue, but he warned the population not to fall for scams and fraud.
“Within Social Security, together with the Federal Police, every day we are catching organized criminal groups diverting money from retirees and pensioners.
The best remedy for this is to take care of your password. Don’t give your access to My INSS to anyone. Don’t pass it on.”
In addition to telemedicine and the My INSS system, the Ministry also accelerated the queues with the Perícia Mutirão, with doctors traveling on weekends to more remote regions to conduct medical examinations.
There is also the PrevBarco, which reaches riverside communities, and the PrevMóvel, a van equipped with two computers, Wi-Fi system that goes to more distant populations.
The increase in the number of employees by calling 1,200 people recruited for INSS through a competition also helped.
Pressure on public spending The government’s progress in trying to reduce the INSS waiting queue has become a double-edged sword. By increasing the volume of new benefit concessions in recent months, it has increased pressure on federal spending.
From January to October of last year, 4.86 million INSS benefits were granted, 11.85% more than in the same period the previous year.
The number of beneficiaries reached 38.9 million in October, with 33.2 million receiving, an increase of 3.9% compared to the same month in 2022.
Another 5.67 million were covered by social assistance, an increase of 10.57% compared to the previous year. This includes the
Continuous Benefit Payment (BPC), paid to the elderly and people with disabilities. In an interview with Folha de S.Paulo, the president of INSS, Alessandro Stefanutto, acknowledged that the acceleration in concessions is likely to pressure spending in the short term.