Thirty years of history in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS): A necessary but insufficient transition

Abstract

This article describes changes in the public, nonprofit, and private components of the health care networks and health insurance and health plan companies in Brazil, based on the accumulated knowledge concerning the gains and obstacles in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and differences between policies for democratization and democratizing processes. This central premise allowed analyzing praise versus criticism for the SUS and the contemporary nature of relations between the public and private sectors, drawing on secondary data from agencies in the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches. The article concludes that the highly financialized private and private-charitable sectors imposed anti-democratic and anti-democratizing standards in the use of public funds. The article further concludes that although these sectors have not raised barriers to certain public policies for the expansion of access, they nevertheless prevent the development of the SUS according to the principles set out in the 1988 Constitution.