The present study discusses issues that interfere with assurance of the right to healthcare and its relationship with the principle of comprehensiveness. For this, the historical and cultural issues that contextualize this reality are described. The limits and possibilities of assuring comprehensiveness as part of the right to healthcare are indicated, focusing on the Brazilian National Health System (SUS). The scope of the right to healthcare and the limits that are reached in practice demonstrate the difficulty in fully assuring this right. This has also been observed in other countries. The compartmentalized right that is experienced in practice in SUS is contrary to the principle of comprehensiveness, in its different concepts. Despite the challenges involved in making comprehensiveness effective, many initiatives have been identified and used from the perspective of overcoming the difficulties and achieving the full right to healthcare.
Right to healthcare; Comprehensiveness; Public Health