Abstract

The essay indicates the main antecedents for the organization of the health system in Chile that is presently in force, with transformations following the country’s coup d’état 50 years ago. It describes the recent debate over, and resistance to, the transformation and strengthening of the public system, with regard to controlling the health industry in the post-dictatorship, from the point of view of the sectors of economic power as well as the important viewpoint of the population, which in the face of a discouraged public health sector, seems to overlook the collective meaning of health care and the role of a state guarantor and protector of minimum social rights.