Of the expected revenue by 2024 for the budgets of the Generalitat, a minimum of 800 million will be allocated to an extraordinary background intended to “normalize” displaced spending -that of one exercise that carries over to the next- in health. The allocation, approved this week by the Consell Executiu within the framework of the spending ceiling of the budget for the next year, could even be higher when the financial savings are noted (1.3 billion planned until 2034) for the forgiveness of 20% of the debt of the regional liquidity fund (FLA), which amounts to 15,000 million, included in the pact between ERC and the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
Last year, of the almost 4,000 million that amounted to runaway displaced spending (3,840 million), a total of 2,652 million corresponded to the Institut Català de Salut (ICS) and the Servei Català de Salut (SCS), the highest level in at least a decade. The Catalan Executive wants to take advantage of the fact that the next year will be a year with a substantial increase in income from the liquidation of the 2022 regional financing model to regularize, in part, a practice that has been entrenched in healthcare for years and that in 2022 reached its highest level, after the 1,938 million in 2019, the year before the pandemic.
According to the non-finalist non-financial spending limit approved this week by the Catalan Executive for the 2024 budgets, income for next year will amount to 35,330 million, 12.5% more than in 2023. The bulk comes from the liquidation of the 2022 financing model and the system’s advance payment forecast for 2024 (the payments on account carried out by the Treasury). From there the 800 million will emerge for the extraordinary fund for health.
Cost overruns due to covid
To alleviate the health extra costsDuring the years of greatest incidence of covid, a special fund was launched by the central government for the autonomies for an amount of 16,000 million. Catalonia received 3,294.7 million in 2020 and 2,161 million in 2021. In 2022 this contribution, which both the Government and other autonomies asked to be maintained, was not given again.
In 2024, the Generalitat will be able to spend a maximum of 36,684 million next year, 9.6% more than in the current year, thanks to the boost experienced by income from the liquidation of the autonomous financing system in 2022, a year in which the economy experienced great dynamism and revenue increased. In any case, the effective increase in spending compared to this year is 5.5%, which represents 1,811 million more, as the extraordinary fund of 800 million was established to settle overdue health bills and also excluding financial expenses.
The problem of the lack of funding for this area has continued so far this year, since the budget execution report until September highlights that “without the effect of the expense displaced from Health, spending increases by 6.9%” , instead of 7.3%. The allocation for Salut has risen to 13,353 million, 2,000 million more than initially planned. The same report highlights that Salut has expanded credit for a total of 1,819.5 million “to account for expenses from previous years.”
Insufficiency
The General Intervention highlights in the General Account of the Generalitat that Health is where this practice has the most weight because it is “where traditionally the budget items corresponding to healthcare agreements and pharmacy of the SCS and Chapter II of the ICS have presented budgetary insufficiency.” This practice, in any case, chronicles the existence of displaced spending year after year, reiterates the Intervention, which has been issuing this alert for years.
According to a report by the Chamber of Commerce, an example of the underfinancing that Catalonia suffers is reflected in healthcare. This analysis reveals that the community suffers a spending deficit of 396 euros per capita annually when compared to the EU. And the difference is abysmal with the regional communities. In Catalonia, with data from 2019, it is 1,524 euros per inhabitant compared to 1,701 in Navarra, 10.4% more and 1,877 in Euskadi, 18.8% more.
The rest of the deferred expenses of the general administration and the autonomous entities in Catalonia do not correspond, in general, to reasons of budgetary insufficiency but to the specificities of some expenses such as the deferral of the current payment of social contributions or the long processing times. of dependency aid.
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In general, the evolution of this displaced expenditure experiences an upward trend in the period 2012-2022. But there are some exceptions. For example, in 2015, credit expansions were implemented to finance deferred spending from previous years.
And the downward evolution of the 2020 balance of the SCS and the ICS must be attributed to greater availability of credit derived from funds provided by the State to the autonomies to cover expenses derived from the covid pandemic for the health sector.