Saúde no contexto da inter-relação público-privado: um bem público, um bem de consumo ou um direito humano fundamental com vistas à universidade?

Abstract

Starting from a conjunctural analysis of health in the context of the public-private relationship, this research aims to study, in depth, Brazilian public policies of health, which are in constant movement. Our objective is to discuss what we consider one of the determining conditions to understand its transformation: the concept that supports its praxis. In this regard, we presented three juridically built categories — “health as a public good”, “health as a consumer good” and “health as a fundamental Human Right” — in order to clarify the notion of health that each of these categories carries, with their own theoretical premises and founding characteristics. We intend to identify the elements that constitute the notion of health that is the basis for the development of typical neoliberal public policies, given that the preponderance of the private over the public in the organization of public health policies has alerted to a possible recess when it comes to social rights. This imposes on us the task of questioning the direction in which we are being put, specially in regards to the health sector, marked by the flagrant weakening of the bedrocks of the Sanitary Reform, such as the principle of Universality, which lays the foundation for the Unified Health Care System (SUS).