Abstract

MARTINEZ FRANZONI, Juliana  and  SANCHEZ-ANCOCHEA, Diego. Building universalism: Lessons from Costa Rica´s health services, 1940-2011. Rev. Urug. Cienc. Polít. [online]. 2013, vol.22, n.spe, pp.55-74. ISSN 1688-499X.

The building of universalism is most often conflated with massive coverage - even if benefits are segmented - or consider equivalent to the Nordic model based on general revenues and generous services for all - something unfeasible in contemporary Latin America. We instead understand universal social policy as entailing services of similar quality and generosity for a majority of the population, regardless of the policy architecture that makes it happen. Our argument is grounded on the case of Costa Rica, one of the few peripheral countries that made universalism happened. In this case the policy architecture revolved around payroll contributions, initially aimed at salaried workers, channeled to a unified fund, successfully linked to social assistance and incrementally reaching out the better off and the poor population. The case of Costa Rica offers positive lessons but also shows threats resulting from an increasingly informal labor market and a growing role of markets in public service

Keywords : Social policy; social security; universalism; Latin America.

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