The process of globalization has driven the State, in its role of provider, into a state of crisis that is affecting the relationship between the lower classes and healthcare services in Brazil. The development of a neo-liberal world, with its concentration of income and its excluding effects, necessarily points toward the construction of another world, in which survival is closely tied to solidarity. Were it not for this crisis, perhaps a proposal of social support in the healthcare area would not draw so much attention. However, once the window is cracked open for the proposal to be examined more carefully, it becomes necessary to acknowledge that it is a legitimate proposal based on its own merits, regardless of the crisis itself. The discussion of social support as a health and education proposal reveals the possibility of approaching an issue that often generates contradiction among the mediators of popular education: the religiosity of the masses. Will this be overcome with time, or is it an integral part of the culture of the masses?
Social support; social class; health services accessibility; poverty; religion