Judicialization and Right to Health in Brazil: a Trajectory of Matches and Mismatches

This study discusses the impacts of judicialization on the guarantee of the right to health in Brazil and the need to reassess the role of the Judicial system in its protection. We used evidence from the technical-scientific literature and information on the budgetary-financial execution and the acquisition of medicines from the Brazilian Ministry of Health to substantiate the arguments. In 2019, lawsuits consumed 25.2% of the resources of the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Care, 21% for 10 medicines. Although the Judicial promotes this right when the State fails to ensure access to medicines incorporated into the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), this system compromises access to medicines of the population with the determinations of acquisition of non-incorporated products. The Judicial needs to guide its control over compliance with constitutional and legal precepts in public policies, especially in fiscal policy, given its impact on the financing of the SUS.