Public and private in the Brazilian Public Health Care System

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to discuss the consequences of state reform in the health sector, particularly the Family Healthcare Program and the conversion of the most complex health care institutions into Social Organizations. The paper analyzes the extent to which these qualitative changes signify the privatization of public healthcare services and the loss of the universal right to health care. This is achieved through an analysis of current healthcare legislation, using the public and private spheres as categories of analysis. The analysis shows that the right to healthcare is not guaranteed by the reform since the governmental concepts underlying the public healthcare system are different from those on which the reform is based. The current reform tends to privatize healthcare through both the Family Healthcare Program and the Community Healthcare Agent Program and through the transformation of highly complex healthcare services into non-governmental healthcare organizations.