The right to health at law courts. Some effects of judicial activism on the health system in Argentina

As an answer to the new disparities and inequities which emerged from the health reforms in Argentina form the 1990's, it appears the need to guarantee the health as a right. As a consequence, an important judicial activism begins to unfold in order to achieve greater guarantees in matters of health. Here, judicial activism refers to the strategic use of the law courts by organizations dedicated to the struggle of public interest and to the use of the law courts by private individuals to channel the complaints against the State or against health service providing companies. At present, both the Supreme National Court of Justice and the lower courts have dealt with an important number of cases related to the right to health. In the cases selected in this article, we analyze the type of conflict and the judicial answer, together with the possible effects of certain court decisions about the rules that govern the health system as finally conformed.