DPVAT and DPEM insurance ceases to exist from 2020

DPVAT and DPEM insurance ceases to exist, as of the Provisional Measure – MP issued by President Jair Bolsonaro, on November 11th. The decision has political implications.

President Jair Bolsonaro determined, through a provisional measure – MP, the extinction of the DPVAT, the Mandatory Insurance for Personal Injuries caused by accidents with motor vehicles. In addition, the same MP abolished the Insurance for Personal Damage Caused by Vessels or their cargo, to people transported by them or not (DPEM).

According to the government, DPVAT costs the federal government R$8.9 billion. Approximately R$4.2 billion would be needed to cover the amounts paid to victims and another R$4.7 billion to cover the costs related to the administration and supervision of this resource.

According to the measure, universal assistance for all traffic victims will continue to be provided by the SUS, which, however, will no longer receive this source of revenue.

It is worth mentioning that the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, delivered to the National Congress, at the beginning of November, three proposals for amendments to the Constitution. The proposed objective of the three is to balance the accounts of the Union, States and municipalities. One of them, the PEC of the Federative Pact changes the rules that determine how expenditures are made with resources from States, municipalities and the Union, and intends to impose several restrictions on mandatory expenses, such as in the area of ​​Health, which already has a lower budget than necessary. . The minister intends to reduce spending on health and education, which will directly affect the SUS.

Until the end of this year, accidents will continue to be covered until the end of this year. The manager of insurance resources, Seguradora Líder, will continue to serve policyholders until the end of 2025, only dealing with claims occurring up to 2019. Líder is a consortium, which has Excelsior, part of the family of federal deputy Luciano Bivar (PSL-PE), currently in conflict with the president.

DPVAT mandatory insurance was created in 1974, with the aim of establishing a large network of payers responsible for compensating traffic victims, including pedestrians, a network formed by vehicle owners.

The MP must be approved by Congress within 120 days or it will become invalid. After that, it will come into force when it is published in the Official Gazette of the Union.

Image: Pixabay / NettoFigueiredo

What the government says

According to the government, the extinction aims to prevent fraud and end the high costs of supervision and regulation of the DPVAT. The Provisional Measure would be aimed at saving money on the part of the public sector.

According to the government, the consequences of the decision should not leave citizens helpless in the event of accidents, because the Unified Health System (SUS) provides free and universal care in the public network. Anyone who is INSS insured has coverage for sickness benefit, disability retirement, accident benefit and death pension. It should be noted that compensation for death, permanent disability and medical expenses has always been important so that the victim of a traffic accident or their family has an important resource to face the difficulties arising from this situation, which are not fully covered by the INSS.

Those who are not INSS insured must receive the Continuous Payment Benefit – BPC, payment of a minimum monthly wage for people who do not have the means to provide for their subsistence or do not have a family to support them, in accordance with specific legislation.

The government declared that, if the Líder insurance company does not meet public interests in defending the remaining DPVAT resources, Susep may transfer the existing pending issues to another administrator.

What Seguradora Líder says

The DPVAT manager, Seguradora Líder, informs that, in the first half of 2019, the following were paid:

18,841 – compensation for death;

103,068 – compensation for permanent disability;

33,123 – compensation for medical expenses.

The DPVAT is intended to protect drivers, passengers and pedestrians, victims of traffic accidents throughout the national territory. Compensation is required in cases of: death, permanent disability or to pay additional medical expenses. Last year, R$4.6 billion was collected from mandatory DPVAT insurance. The resources were distributed as follows:

– 45% – used to finance the SUS: R$2.1 billion;

– 5% – used by Denatran to finance traffic education programs, totaling R$233.5 million;

– 50% was used for DPVAT insurance payments: R$2.3 billion.

In 2018, according to the insurance company Líder, R$1.9 billion were paid in a total of 328,142 claims. 11,898 cases of insurance fraud were also identified. In ten years, from 2008 to 2018, the National Health Fund (from SUS) received R$33.3 billion from DPVAT, resources more than necessary for the care provided by the system.

The MP within the current political context

Political analysts declare that the Bolsonaro government's decision to end the DPVAT aims to target the company of its current political enemy Luciano Bivar Reinaldo Azevedo, president of the PSL. It is to be expected that the Provisional Measure will encounter resistance in the Chamber for approval.

The provisional measure that extinguishes, from January 2020, mandatory DPVAT and DPEM insurance, will directly affect the business of the president of the PSL, deputy Luciano Bivar (PE). Current political enemy of the President of the Republic, Luciano Bivar is president of the board of directors and controller of the Excelsior insurance company, one of those accredited by the government for the administration of DPVAT insurance. Excelsior was the intermediary for the payment, from January to June 2019, of R$168 million in insurance-related compensation, according to an audit report by Líder DPVAT.

Deputy Luciano Bivar, owner of Excelsior Seguros

Representative Luciano Bivar acquired Excelsior Seguros in the 1990s. The company declares on its website that it is the largest insurance company in the Northeast. In 2017, Luciano Bivar assumed the mandate of federal deputy as a substitute for a PSB parliamentarian, licensed to take on a secretariat in the government of Pernambuco. From then on, he uses his mandate in the Chamber to defend the interests of insurance companies.

Representative Luciano Bivar presented a project to prevent consumers from having the right to choose which workshop they should take their car to in case of coverage for damage to the vehicle, after activating the insurance. In another project, he established guarantees for insurance companies to recommend their own referenced workshops to customers.