Authors:  Céu Mateus; Maria Rita Paiva Pessoa; Mário Ribeiro; Pedro Pita Barros

*This text corresponds to the opinion of the authors, in exercise of citizenship, without necessarily reflecting any position or opinion of the institutions with which they are affiliated.

Introduction:

1. During the year 2023, the PSD and the Liberal Initiative presented ideas and initiatives for the health system and the National Health Service. The document presented by the PSD is entitled “Health Mobilizing Agenda 2030|2040” [1]and the document presented by Liberal Initiative is entitled “Bill No. 859/XV/1.ª – Approves the Basic Law of the Universal Health Access System, revoking Law No. 95/2019, of 4 September” [2](which is completed with “Basic Law of the Universal Health Access System – YOUR Health 1. Context 2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)).”[3]
2. The debate on political party proposals often ends in the days following their presentation. However, it is useful for future discussions and options to carry out a more detailed analysis of the content of the proposals, especially as legislative elections are approaching.
3. Therefore, below are several observations on the proposals released by these two parties. These proposals were supported by documents publicly made available by the parties that presented them, and as such allow reflection based on these documents.
4. The reflection carried out includes comments as well as questions that we consider relevant for a complete understanding of the content and (potential) scope of the proposals.
5. The systematization of the discussion can be done either by analyzing each proposal or by analyzing each subject, and within each proposal. To facilitate reading, we chose to present the comments and questions relating to each proposal separately, as there is no perfect overlap of themes between proposals. The PSD proposal presents ideas within the continuity of the National Health Service, while the Liberal Initiative (IL) proposal defends a transformation of the National Health Service into another form of organization of the Portuguese health system.

📄 The full document in Portuguese can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/4864a7sw