TFD Program depends, however, on budget availability to offer resources; program determines coverage of food, transportation and accommodation expenses
The TFD (Treatment Outside Home), a SUS (Unified Health System) program that offers cost assistance to patients who need medical care in another city due to lack of availability in the city of origin, will now be consolidated into law. Approved by the Senate on Wednesday (March 25, 2026), it is now subject to presidential sanction. The approval represents a guarantee of continuity of the policy, which already existed in the SUS, but through ordinances.
The text is an amendment by the Chamber of Deputies to the original project, the , by the senator (PT-AP). He had initially proposed that the SUS would be obliged to provide cost assistance to patients who need to travel to obtain treatment. The Chamber’s amendment, in turn, determines that the SUS may authorize the payment of this aid, thus giving its granting an optional nature.
When defending the project, Randolfe expressed the fear that this cost assistance for SUS users could be extinguished, depending on the government’s wishes.
“Those who most need this type of service are citizens, especially in the Amazon states and the Northeast of Brazil, where certain medical specialties do not exist. What are we doing? Providing guarantees and stability to those who have this right” these.
How it works
The TFD determines coverage of food, transportation and accommodation expenses for the patient and a companion, if necessary. Cost assistance may be offered if there is financial and budgetary availability from the responsible federative entity, as previously agreed by the SUS management committee.
It will be necessary to be recommended by a SUS doctor for treatment in another city and authorization from the municipal or state health manager, in addition to the security of care in the other municipality. The subsistence allowance will not be granted for journeys of less than 50 km or between locations in the same metropolitan region.
CAS
The project also passed this Wednesday (03/25/2026) by the CAS (Social Affairs Commission) and was reported by senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo (MDB-PB). He recommended approval of the text. “There is a need to make the TFD a perennial State policy, which cannot be withdrawn from the population, which is why it deserves to be in law”said the rapporteur.
This text was originally published by on March 25, 2026 and adapted for publication by Poder360.
