Abstract:
The idea of regulating private health plans so as to favor major players and the "managed care" is incompatible with the guidelines of the National Health System [Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS)] and for this reason we defend instead a regulatory action aiming to strengthen the public sphere. In particular, we discuss how this alternative could improve the regulatory capacity of the National Supplementary Health Agency [Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar (ANS)] to face the economic crisis in the health plan marketplace, dispelling the mistaken notion that the market, once strengthened, will cooperate with the SUS rather than contaminate it.