Direito à Saúde, recursos escassos e equidade : os riscos da interpretação judicial dominante
By: FERRAZ, Octávio Luiz Motta
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Contributor(s): VIEIRA, Fabiola Sulpino.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Rio de Janeiro : IESP / UERJ, mar. 2009Online resources: Acesso Dados - Revista de Ciências Sociais 52, 1, p. 223-251Abstract: This article discusses the right to health as provided by the Brazilian Constitution in light of the increasing number of court rulings that order government to supply health products and services that have not been incorporated into public policies by other means. Using the Constitutions concept of health as the point of departure, authors demonstrate that guaranteeing the right to health requires more comprehensive social and economic policies. They argue that scarcity of resources places a limit on the formulation of public policies and that equity should be the underlying principle for orienting resource allocation. The article contends that the interpretation of the right to health as the individual right to unlimited care (the predominant position in the Brazilian Judiciary) is sustained to the detriment of the Constitutional principles of equity and universality, and that this interpretation results in a reversal in the primary objectives of the Unified National Health System (SUS), transforming it into an instrument for the perpetuation of the countrys persistently daunting health inequities.
This article discusses the right to health as provided by the Brazilian Constitution in light of the increasing number of court rulings that order government to supply health products and services that have not been incorporated into public policies by other means. Using the Constitutions concept of health as the point of departure, authors demonstrate that guaranteeing the right to health requires more comprehensive social and economic policies. They argue that scarcity of resources places a limit on the formulation of public policies and that equity should be the underlying principle for orienting resource allocation. The article contends that the interpretation of the right to health as the individual right to unlimited care (the predominant position in the Brazilian Judiciary) is sustained to the detriment of the Constitutional principles of equity and universality, and that this interpretation results in a reversal in the primary objectives of the Unified National Health System (SUS), transforming it into an instrument for the perpetuation of the countrys persistently daunting health inequities.
ISSN 00115258 Versão Impressa
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