INSS Sets 2026 Action Plan in Meeting with Managers

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

INSS (Brazil’s National Social Security Institute) brought managers together in Brasília to set its 2026 Action Plan, focusing on shorter wait times, more medical examiners, and modernized service systems.

If you are insured, the main thing to do is keep your contact information up to date on Meu INSS (the INSS online portal and app), especially your phone number and e-mail.

From December 15 to 17, 2025, INSS held a Technical Meeting in Brasília to build the 2026 Action Plan. Directors, coordinators, regional superintendents, and representatives of the federal government took part. The goal was to set targets and strategies for improving service to the more than 40 million people who receive INSS benefits.

What Was Discussed?

The meeting addressed INSS’s main bottlenecks and set measurable targets for the year:

• Shorter wait times: a target to reduce the average time it takes to review benefit claims
• More medical examiners: the shortage of federal medical examiners is the main bottleneck for disability benefits
• Streamlined review workflows: more efficient internal processes to speed up approvals
• In-person service: stronger presence in regions with the greatest demand and the least digital coverage
• System modernization: updating INSS’s computer systems

The strategies set at this meeting took shape in the first months of 2026: weekend task-force events, nationalization of the queue, and a managers’ meeting in Belém (March 2026) to adjust regional targets.

What Does This Mean for You as an Insured Person?

Institutional planning directly affects anyone waiting for a benefit:

• More frequent task-force events: extraordinary medical examination and social assessment sessions on weekends
• Nationalization of the queue: claims pending for more than 45 days may be reviewed by staff in other regions
• Shorter deadlines: the goal is to meet the 45-day legal deadline (art. 41-A of Law 8.213/91) in most cases

If you have a claim under review, follow its progress on Meu INSS. The actions that come out of this planning may benefit your case.

Remote Medical Examinations and Modernizing Digital Service

Among the modernization measures discussed at the technical meeting, remote medical examinations (teleperícia) deserve special attention. Regulated by INSS Joint Ordinance No. 1/2022, a teleperícia allows the medical evaluation to take place by videoconference. You go to an INSS office while the examiner works remotely from another location. This model helps reduce the impact of the examiner shortage in remote regions, since a professional based in a state capital can evaluate insured people in inland municipalities without having to travel.

Nationalizing the medical examination queue, another measure in the 2026 Action Plan, complements the teleperícia. Under this system, claims backed up at offices with few appointment slots can be redistributed to offices with lower demand anywhere in the country. In practice, a pending temporary disability benefit claim at an office in Maranhão could be reviewed by an available examiner in São Paulo, as long as both ends have videoconferencing infrastructure.

You may also be interested in: INSS-JUD 2026: How Automation Works in Granting Court-Ordered Benefits.

If you are insured, the main thing to do is keep your contact information up to date on Meu INSS, especially your phone number and e-mail. Notices to attend a teleperícia are sent through these channels, and failing to show up may result in your claim being closed. If you receive a notice, go to the office indicated at the scheduled time, and bring all the medical reports, test results, and records that prove your health condition.

What to Expect from the Changes in INSS Service

The action plan INSS set for 2026 focuses mainly on modernizing service and reducing the wait for claims to be reviewed. The planned measures include expanding digital processing capacity, revising internal workflows, and strengthening medical examination teams in regions with the largest backlog of pending claims.

For insured people, the technical meetings among INSS managers point to the possibility of more efficient service and shorter deadlines. The legal target of 30 days to review claims, although often missed, remains the benchmark for the agency’s performance and can be enforced in court when it is exceeded without justification.

If your claim has been pending for more than 30 days with no response, you should check its status on Meu INSS and, if necessary, seek legal advice to make sure the legal deadlines are met. A writ of mandamus (mandado de segurança) is an effective legal tool to force INSS to review claims within the deadline.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was discussed at the INSS Technical Meeting for the 2026 Action Plan?

The meeting, held from December 15 to 17, 2025, in Brasília, set targets to reduce the average time to review benefit claims, increase the number of federal medical examiners, streamline internal review workflows, strengthen in-person service in regions with the greatest demand, and modernize computer systems, all with the aim of improving service to the more than 40 million people who receive INSS benefits.

How does the INSS remote medical examination (teleperícia) in the 2026 Action Plan work?

Regulated by INSS Joint Ordinance No. 1/2022, a teleperícia allows the medical evaluation to take place by videoconference. You go to an INSS office while the examiner works remotely from another location. This model reduces the impact of the examiner shortage in remote regions, allowing a professional based in a state capital to evaluate insured people in inland municipalities without having to travel.

What is the legal deadline for INSS to review benefit claims?

Article 41-A of Law 8.213/91 sets a 45-day deadline for reviewing social security benefits. When that deadline passes without justification, you can follow the status of your claim on Meu INSS and, if necessary, go to court. A writ of mandamus is an effective legal tool to force INSS to review pending claims within the legal deadline.

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.