Contributions to the transformation of the Colombian health system

Abstract

The objective of this essay is to contribute elements for the debate on the crisis of the General System of Social Security in Health of Colombia, the fundamental right to health and its implications, and thus to propose other elements for the new health system required by this country, without this essay constituting a reform project. The result of the analysis shows that Law 100 of 1993 not only deepened inequities, but also generated new avoidable and regressive inequalities, such as the lack of comprehensive care, the deterioration of public health, placing financial profitability above the rights of the people, the denial of services, the inadequate Government regulation and the corruption of the majority of its actors. The amendments to said law (Laws 1122 of 2007 and 1438 of 2011) and the promulgation of the fundamental right to health in Law 1751 of 2015, have not achieved significant changes in the health system, despite the issuance of hopeful new regulatory norms, given that the current system is based on neoliberalism. Health is a product of social action and not a mere result of medical care. Consequently, the right to health must go beyond illness to well-being, as a guarantee provided by the Government. The foundation of a new health system will undoubtedly be human dignity in its objective and subjective elements, as the highest expression of compliance with human rights.