The article's central hypothesis is that the health insurance market has expanded in Brazil thanks to the pattern of government financing, which has involved a varied set of government incentives. The methodological procedures adopted to investigate this hypothesis are based on the study of theory concerning the political economics of health services and the description of specific measures implemented by the State in the field of health policy, which have ended up supporting the growth of private health plans and insurance over the past forty years.
analysis of health care markets; public health
