This paper seeks to identify the potential negative effects of private health insurance on the universality of National Health Systems. It systematizes the operational concepts of the public-private mix model and presents the results from international research into duplicated and supplementary coverage that shows that universality is negatively affected by inequities derived from duplicated coverage though not from supplementary coverage. It demystifies the supplementary nature of private health insurance as the villain in the Brazilian healthcare system and recommends that public policies should be fully oriented to improving the public health system instead of private health insurance.
Health Policy; Regulation; Private health insurance; Public-private mix; Duplicated coverage
