El principio de universalidad en el acceso a la salud en el sistema de seguridad social colombiano

Resumen

The creation of the general system of social security in health allowed a significant increase in coverage for the Colombian population, which previously did not have this health protection mechanism and was covered by the public assistance system or simply had to attend to spending in health with own resources. In the health sector, the principles of universality and solidarity became very important, because of this, the public health insurance was established, to cover the entire population and, guarantee access to services at all levels of care. There is no doubt that the goal of universal coverage of health insurance in 2000 was unprecedented in the Latin American context and in the history of social policy in Colombia. Although there has been some consensus in the country about the coverage of social security in health, after 20 years of development of the law 100, there are important differences between analysts and reform actors in terms of interpretation of the figures and the prospects for an increase in this coverage. This is because Act 100 of 1993, proposed a system of universal coverage, without economic, geographical or cultural barriers, which will guarantee the right to health, with emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion; actions consistent with municipal needs, community management and intersectoral relations. Goals that in practice failed to consolidated, since coverage is still low, and in an important percentage, the user must resort to legal action to access the service.