Supplementary Health System in Brazil: Business Model Not Threatened by Socioeconomic Crisis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2023.v8i1.1225Keywords:
Regulatory Compliance, Large Philanthropical Hospital, “Empresa Pró-Ética” Program BrazilAbstract
Objective: The performance of the supplementary health system (SSS) in Brazil depends on the country's ability to generate employment and income. Yet, on the other hand, even in the face of the economic crises that have hit Brazil in recent years and, more sharply, after the Covid-19 pandemic, the SSS ended 2021 with continuous growth in the number of beneficiaries. This perspective suggests possible causes to explain this contradiction while questioning the role of the State in providing a constitutional right for Brazilians.
Theoretical framework: Brazilian health system can be divided into three segments: a public segment financed by the State (Unified Health System, SUS), a private segment, and a supplementary health segment, the latter two with public and private funding. The Supplementary Health System (SSS) represents a highly regulated area.
Design/methodology/approach: The methodology of this work followed the rigor and steps to develop a current perspective on supplementary health in Brazil. Insights from this perspective shed light on the subject of supplementary health by providing insight into existing issues, concepts and prevailing notions about health systems.
Findings: The healthcare system in Brazil is complex and combines market elements of public and social interest in a single environment. In this way, the question remains whether business models geared to the base of the economic pyramid (BoP) community have focused exclusively on making a profit by “selling to the poor” or whether they have brought a valuable commitment to social development in the country.
Research, Practical & Social implications: This question deserves attention due to the de-prioritization of health on the political agenda in an election year and the critical post-Covid-19 pandemic situation. Social policies in Brazil need to go beyond guaranteeing access to credit compensating for the lack of public provision, at the risk of mortgaging the SUS as a sign of modernity and progress.
Originality/value: This perspective suggests possible causes to explain this contradiction while questioning the role of the State in providing a constitutional right for Brazilians.
Downloads
References
Bhatnagar, N. & Grover, M. (2014). Health Care for the “Bottom of the Pyramid”. Population Health Management, 17(1), 5-7.
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Available at: <https://www.ibge.gov.br>. Accessed on April 15, 2022.
Cruz, J. A. W. et al. (2022). Brazilian private health system: history, scenarios, and trends. BMC Health Services Research, 22(49), 1-11, 2022.
Dumalanede, C., Hamza, K. & Payaud, M. (2020). Improving healthcare services access at the bottom of the pyramid: the role of profit and non-profit organisations in Brazil. Society and Business Review, 15(3), 211-234.
Dweck, E. et al. (2022). COVID-19 and the Brazilian manufacturing sector: Roads to reindustrialization within societal purposes. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 61, 278-293.
Institute for Supplementary Health Studies (IESS). Available at:<https://www.iess.org.br/press-release/cresce-satisfacao-com-o-plano-de-saude-aponta-vox-populi>. Accessed on July 15, 2022.
Lavinas, L. (2017). How Social Developmentalism Reframed Social Policy in Brazil. New Political Economy, 22(6), 628-644.
Lobo, S. M. et al. (2022). Perceptions of critical care shortages, resource use, and provider well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey of 1,985 health care providers in Brazil. Chest, 161(6), 1526-1542.
National Supplementary Health Agency (ANS). Available at: <https://www.ans.gov.br/images/stories/Materiais_para_pesquisa/Perfil_setor/sala-de-situacao.html>. Accessed on April 02, 2022.
Prahalad, C. K. & Lieberthal, K. (1998). The End of Corporate Imperialism. Harvard Business Review, 76(4), 68-79.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Cássia Rita Pereira da Veiga, Claudimar Pereira da Veiga, Zhaohui Su
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms: the author(s) authorize(s) the publication of the text in the journal;
The author(s) ensure(s) that the contribution is original and unpublished and that it is not in the process of evaluation by another journal;
The journal is not responsible for the views, ideas and concepts presented in articles, and these are the sole responsibility of the author(s);
The publishers reserve the right to make textual adjustments and adapt texts to meet with publication standards.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Atribuição NãoComercial 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which allows the work to be shared with recognized authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are allowed to assume additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g. publish in institutional repository or as a book chapter), with recognition of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are allowed and are encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on a personal web page) at any point before or during the editorial process, as this can generate positive effects, as well as increase the impact and citations of the published work (see the effect of Free Access) at http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html
