Percepciones sociales respecto del derecho a la salud y expectativas de cambio en el sistema de salud de Chile

Social perceptions regarding the right to Health and expectations of change in Chile’s health system

Abstract

This article summarizes a study conducted in Chile between 2017 and 2018 about social perceptions regarding the right to health and expectations of change in the health system. Qualitative social research techniques were used (discussion groups, life stories, interviews with institutional actors, documentary and press review). Citizen discourses on the right to health are raised today, showing the tension between the expectation of universal rights and the perception of impossibility of exercising them due to social inequality and the persistence of a dominant position of consumer discourse in substitution of that of citizen: health rights are not enforceable, leading to perceptions of vulnerability. This perception is contrasted with the existence of 80 health problems that are currently under the regime of access guarantees, financial protection, quality and care opportunity, called Explicit Health Guarantees (GES). This prioritization of health problems is highly valued, but today it shows limitations to ensure universality of rights and a preventive and population approach to health. Today there seems to be broad coincidences in the problems of the system and public health policies, but deep discrepancies persist in the paths of change to follow.