This paper analyzes the policy model of the Brazilian Ministry of Health from 1990 to 2002. The methodology included interviews with key actors in the national health policy, document review, and analysis of the Federal budget and official databases. The Brazilian Ministry of Health underwent major changes under the influence of the health reform agenda and the liberal State reform agenda prevailing in the 1990s, shaped by two movements: institutional unification of national policy control and political/administrative decentralization. The Federal role was diminished in terms of direct services provision, and there were changes in financing and regulation. The model in the late 1990s featured strong Federal induction of States and municipalities and the adoption of market regulation strategies. There is no record of a long-term planning effort, which favors distortions in the Federal intervention model and hinders solutions to structural problems in the Brazilian health system.
Health Policy; Health Management; National Health System (BR)
