La atención de salud de los pobres en Uruguay.

Evaluación de una experiencia de privatización

Abstract

This paper shows the results of a research project on utilization and satisfaction with pre-paid private health services in two such institutions in the city of Montevideo, by low income groups of workers who were included in the Social Security health insurance scheme in 1984: domestic aids, construction and rural workers. As a control, a sample consisting of workers from textile industries, banking and import-export services was included. It was not possible to prove the hypothesis of a lower level of utilization of private services by the lower income group, and on the contrary, this group's satisfaction with services was higher than in the control group. We do not mean to extrapolate these conclusions to other population groups with low income but lower levels of social integration than the ones studied here, but the dilemma between focalized and universal policies is present in a society such as the uruguayan, where high levels of social integration still persist.