In Brazil, the public health system is called Sistema Único de Saúde (Unified Health System) - SUS, which follow the principles of universality, that is, everyone can have access to healthy assistance; equity, more for those who have less, gratuity, that mean health care is a cost of the state.
This system is only 21 years old and its theoretical foundations are very solid and complex. However, due to the large and growing number of users of the system, the quality of care and the volume of financial resources are still insufficient and inconsistent with the ideal of the SUS.
Brazil is mapped in small regional health authorities and municipalities are primarily responsible for population health. The main focus is on prevention and health promotion, but also shares of medium and high complexity are developed through the SUS.
One example of high complexity is the national regulation system of transplants, which currently is developed and paied exclusively through this public system.
Silvia Karla
Hi Silvia! I'm curious to hear your opinion about the system. Do you think it works well for everyone? Do some people purchase extra insurance in addition to the general univeral one? In the U.S., as you probably know, health care is a big issue because it's private and provided by the company you work for, usually. But most times you need to be employed full time in order to receive health care benefits. So many people who have more than one job and none of them full time have to pay for their own health care. This is a huge problem because it's really expensive and over 45 million Americans don't have any coverage. If they get sick, they either can't go to the doctor, or it becomes and emergency and then all of the citizens pay through our taxes. President Obama has been trying to pass universal health care for all Americans but close to half of the country don't want to pay taxes for health care benefits for all. It's expensive, but in the long run would probably be cheaper than paying for emergency care, which is incredibly expensive. Time will tell what happens here, I guess...
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