Colombia's Right-to-Health Litigation in a Context of Health Care Reform

Abstract

Unwanted outcomes of Colombia’s 1993 health reform produced a marked escalation of health rights litigation, and coincided with deregulation of Colombia’s health sector, in areas such as pharmaceutical pricing and the updating of the basket of health services. The result was considerable financial trauma to the health-sector and a potential curtailment of the right to health of vulnerable sectors of Colombia’s population.This paper explores the unwanted consequences of the “encounter” between the 1993 health overhaul and the escalation of right to health litigation at loggerheads with equity. It concludes that right to health litigation is the “canary in the coalmine” that signals deeper institutional dysfunctions within Colombia’s health system.