Resumo em Inglês (abstract)

Trailing the whole group of trends and changes in the scenario of relations between the public and the private, this article analyses the effects of the rise in the rates of return of health plan operators and health insurance companies in 2007. Special attention is given to the segmentation of the system, the complaints about the naturalization of inequitable access to health services and to the depreciation of the original concepts of the Unified Health System. The study also gathers information regarding the production of knowledge about supplementary care with the intent to systemize the bases and methodological approaches adopted by a selected sub-group of scientific papers. Finally, the article develops conjectures and hypotheses with regard to possible associations between growth and stability of the health plan and insurance market and as refers to the nature of scientific production about this issue, taking into consideration the contradictions between the political and economical circuit in which the health plan and insurance companies are operating and the universality of the Brazilian Health System.