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The "social issue" has gained new relevance in the academic debate in the 90s, owing to the changes observed in relations between state, economy and society. In this debate, the issue of exclusion lies at the base of questions to state intervention, particularly with regard to the erosion of social protection systems. This paper, aiming to understand implications of these changes for health policy in Brazil, summarizes two distinct perspectives of social exclusion, which address the problem from the collapse of wage-based societies, and their impact on work; and, from the breakdown of the principles of solidarity's organization and the failure of the traditional concept of social rights. It concludes that health policy, part of the Brazilian social security system, would benefit from the enrichment of the concept of social right, the identification of appropriate means to a state action territorialized and consistent with the differentiation of social needs, and the analysis of inclusive interventions related to the core of the production and distribution of wealth systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]