The commercialization of health care.

The privatization of health care in countries traditionally known for their strong public systems, such as the UK, Spain, and Sweden, poses a threat to the right to health. In many cases the increasing commercialization of health care has been played down, but academic research has a critical role in promoting and further developing this debate. Brazil has also witnessed recurrent attempts by business interests in health to lobby government to increase incentives for a sector that is already heavily subsidized. The Brazilian media recently announced negotiations by the National Executive to cut taxes and expand government financing for private health plans. This news sparked reactions by various organizations. The outrage results from the mismatch in this initiative, given the already low relative share of public spending in health as compared to private expenditure. The chronic underfunding of the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and the increase in incentives for private health plans place the very survival of the public health system in jeopardy and represent policies that directly breach a principle enshrined in Brazil's National Constitution of 1988, namely the universal and equal right to health care. In this issue of CSP, the theme of health sector privatization is addressed in the articles by Sestelo, Souza & Bahia (p. 851-66) and Noronha (p. 847-9). Sestelo et al. present a critical review of the academic output on the public/private mix in Brazil from 2000 to 2009 in studies that analyze private health insurance in the country. Their review identifies various elements for the current debate on the public/private " relationship " (a concept that the authors consider more appropriate than " mix " for analyzing the intricate connections between these subsectors). The authors recall that the privatization process has a longstanding history in Brazil that should be incorporated into the analyses of the current context. They add the fact that in recent decades the official debate forums on health policies have failed to discuss public/private relationships, to the extent that they have focused on issues related more directly to the public sector. This focus on the public system left additional room for the independent organization of private health interests. In the research field, it inhibited the production of in-depth analyses on public/private relationships that otherwise could have unveiled the recent determinants of the strengthening of private health plans and health insurance. The article also highlights the incapacity of public …