Democracy without a sense of republic: the SUS in the times of Covid-19

Abstract

How did it become possible to deconstruct the SUS health authority during the radicalization of the new coronavirus pandemic? In this paper, we propose that this situation expresses a foundation problem of Brazilian democracy itself, which consists of a rigorous assertion of rights without the democratization of power fundamentals. Considering this analytical framework, we propose the understanding of health financialization and commodification processes in its convergence with the regressive principles of legalization, the oligopolistic communication, and, more recently, the militarization. In our notes, after the 2016 coup, the desinstitution of the minimum spaces for construction and the dispute over popular sovereignty sparked a time when the political forces of the Sanitary Reform are challenged to recreate the paths of republicanization of power.