Financeirização e saúde pública: transformações legais e a expansão do setor privado no SUS

Abstract

The Unified Health System (SUS), established by the 1988 Brazilian Constitution, represents one of the world’s largest projects for universalizing access to healthcare. Created to guarantee comprehensive, equitable, and universal care for the entire Brazilian population, SUS is the result of decades of social struggles and popular mobilization demanding health as a state-guaranteed right. However, its creation, which occurred during the redemocratization process, coincided with the onset of the financialized neoliberal phase of capitalist accumulation. This new accumulation model redefined the management and funding mechanisms of public services, creating space for private sector participation. Thus, this study aims to elucidate the ways in which this process unfolds by analyzing key legislation that enabled financialization to permeate public health policies and redefine the relationship between the State and private actors in the provision of public healthcare services.