Brazil's political and economic crises are diverting attention from the resumption of a neoliberal model of health care by its government. Here we briefly summarise the health reforms and their likely long-term implications. The new policies can be seen from three perspectives: austerity, privatisation, and deregulation.
Firstly, the country's Government introduced one of the harshest set of austerity measures in modern history. The constitutional amendment passed in December 2016, called PEC-55, freezes the federal budget, including health spending, at its 2016 level for 20 years.
1 Furthermore, in 2017, for the first time in nearly 30 years, the government undershot the minimum health budget guaranteed by the Constitution by R$692 million (approximately US$210 million).
2, 3 Other health-related sectors, such as education and science, also face spending cuts: up to 45% cuts in scientific research and 15% in public universities.
4, 5, 6
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