30 years of the SUS: public-private relationship and the impasses for the universal right to health

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the public-private relationship in the 30 years of the Unified Health System (SUS), as well as the impasses that impact on the accomplishment of the universal right to health. The research relied on the participation of twelve actors of the Brazilian Sanitary Reform Movement (MRSB), who were interviewed in the period from January to March, 2018. An interview script with semistructured questions was used, using the Google online form. The interviews were analyzed by the discourse method of the collective subject, resulting in four central ideas: 1) Neoliberalism and the capitalist organization of the health system; 2) The public-private relationship in the construction of the SUS; 3) Strategies for the privatization and financing of the SUS; 4) Conjuncture and perspectives in defense of the SUS. As a result of the research, one can perceive the disputes for power in the political, social, and economic spheres in the publicprivate relationship in the Brazilian health system. The conjectures set forth contributed to the underfunding of health and the consequent strengthening of the private market, which operates in a parallel and competitive way to the SUS. Thus, health defense as a universal right requires the radicalization of MRSB agendas, such as political, tax, and agrarian reforms, as well as the renewal of the social struggle in defense of the SUS.