Custo da violência para o Sistema Público de Saúde no Brasil

The Brazilian public budget in health was R$ 53 bilion in 2003. What is the cost of treatment with the victims of the violence in Brazil? In this article we want answering this question. Two limitations in the available data hinder the calculation of the cost of the public health system with the violence in Brazil. In first place, the available information don`t allow a segregation of associated costs due to the violence victims` treatment and due to other morbosity causes. In second place, the payments from federal government for produced services represent a smaller portion of the public expenses. In fact, a significant portion of the resources comes from the State and Municipal public budgets that complement the resources from National Fund of Health - FNS. In order to overcome these difficulties we proposed a methodology that crosses information of the system of health with information on the demand for medical service, of the supplement of health of Pnad 2003. According our estimates, in 2004, the cost for the victims` of external causes treatment, of aggressions and of transport accidents corresponded to R$ 3,8 billion, R$ 206 million and R$ 769 million, respectively. Those results are about seven times larger at the costs verified in other works.