Peru currently has a life expectancy of 74.5 years, and since the 1990s the under-five mortality rate has decreased by 78.8 from 1990 to 2014. While this improvement in mortality is encouraging, out of pocket expenditures on health care in Peru are relatively high, accounting for 87 per cent of health expenditures in 2011. In order to build on this progress and improve access to health case, the Government of the Republic of Peru adopted provisions in the 1993 Constitution that ensure the right to health care services for all.
Article 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of Peru identifies the State as the main provider of health care and ensures that “the State determines the health policy … [and] is responsible for the pluralistic and decentralised implementation to facilitate access to healthcare for everyone”. Article 6 adds that “the State guarantees free access to health services;” and, Article 7 stipulates that, “everyone has the right to protection of their health.” Constitutional provisions in Peru were complimented by legal provisions for universal health care in 2009 through the Universal Health Insurance law, which entitles all Peruvian citizens to a basic package of health benefits and guarantees equal access to quality care. The law provides the framework for a mixed contributory and fully subsidized scheme through both State and private insurance coverage. Universal Health Insurance passed in 2010 (Law Nº 29344 DS Nº 008-2010-SA) compliments 2009 legislation aiming to improve quality and timing of health care provisions, especially for children and poor persons to protect them against economic costs due to illness.
Consensus on health policy in Peru was built through consultative dialogue in the legislature between 2006 and 2010. Through this political process, Peru defined a shared plan of action in 2007, Plan Nacional Concertado de Salud, to move toward equal and universal health coverage. This process created a strong legal framework for increasing access to health care. Through this process the Government of the Republic of Peru has shown determination to uphold equality and ensure that constitutional and legal provisions for social services form strong legal foundations for the creation of a social protection floor.
Further Reading:
- Milena Lavigne (2012). Social Protection Systems in Latin America and the Carribean: Peru. United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carribean, Santiago. Accessed from http://www.cepal.org/en/publications/social-protection-systems-latin-america-and-caribbean-peru on December 2016.