Judicialization of health in Brazil and Colombia: A discussion in light of the New Latin American constitutionalism

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the judicialization of health in Brazil and Colombia in light of the new Latin American Constitutionalism (NLC), a conceptual framework adopted in the region that breaks with the European and North American classic constitutional models. In Brazil, the Constitution of 1988 came as a response to a long period of military governments, and in Colombia the Constitution of 1991 emerged in a context of human rights abuses and high level of violence. The NLC is materialized from these new political letters and based on increasing forms of participation and expansion of the role of the Judiciary and people’s rights, including health. However, the constitutions that brought a broad bill of rights have failed to face market-oriented policies and privatization of health services, thus limiting the realization of the right to health to increasing litigation. In this scenario, the role of the Judiciary, which has been strengthened by the new constitutions, gained importance as the branch capable of realizing a provided but precluded right. The identification of health needs and claims by social segments is presented as a basic principle in this process and indicates the rescue of the NLC for the realization of the right to health through structural litigation.