The health services and the health self-management of public and private health insurance clients

Abstract

This article aims at presenting results of a survey that sought to know people's level of awareness about health issues in general, especially regarding their self-management for their health, as well as their satisfaction with the professional services received. The extracted sample includes undergraduate students from public and private institutions of the city of João Pessoa in the state of Paraíba - Brazil, users of the public and private health system. The research was qualitative and quantitative, with field research questionnaires answered by over 400 respondents. As main results it can be observed that the respondents are aware of the importance of both making their self-management in health and of having access to health services of good quality. However, it was noticed that there is a great gap of practical commitment of people as co-creators of their health care, as well as a great gap pointing out deficiency in the health services provided. There was no noticeable difference in consciousness and behavior among SUS users when compared to users of private health insurance plans. Both group of users also indicated dissatisfaction (gap) in the health services received. It is concluded that it is urgent that health professionals and institutions which work with health services realize that the user can no longer be considered a passive and peaceful being but an active actor and that may greatly assist in health self-management, as co-responsible for its improvement. In order to make this happen, one needs to rely on and be supported by health care providers who give the users more autonomy, security and follow-up.