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Objective: . This paper aims at assessing the contribution of Chile's Health Care Integrating Councils (CIRA, Spanish acronym) to strengthening governance in health., Materials and Methods: A literature review on the official documents related to the process of creation and development of CIRA was carried out; an ad hoc questionnaire was applied to all 29 health services of the country; finally, 35 semi-structure in-depth interviews were carried on a sample of six CIRA., Results: The CIRAs have become a tool for functional integration and a valuable space for dialogue, cooperation and learning for all of the actors of the Chilean public health network., Conclusions: In this study, we conclude that there is room for improvements of CIRA's role regarding governance of the health care network as long as CIRA is authorized to deal with strategic topics, such as investment in infrastructure, technology and human resources, and budgeting.

Objective: To explore the Chilean health system financing based on the most recent available data., Material and Methods: Using the WHO World Health Report 2000 framework, this paper analyzes the Chilean health system financing, with special emphasis on insurance schemes., Results: The analysis shows that a great proportion of people is covered by the existing health insurance schemes (about 88%). However, there is a tendency towards segmentation of the population in terms of risk and income.Additionally, efforts have been made, especially by FONASA (National Health Fund), to perform a strategic purchasing of healthcare., Conclusions: There still is a need for improving the Chilean health system financing in terms of pooling and strategic purchasing.

The combination of inspiration, science, and politics is a cornerstone precept for the common good of humanity, towards the fulfillment of social objectives. Based on this precept, this paper reviews core experiences of the Chilean Health Sector. Health sector key events taking place during the first half of the 20th century were the creation of the National Health Service and the development of mother and child healthcare policies. After the earthquake of 1939, the future President of Chile, Doctor Salvador Allende, set up the Special Sanitation Council, to balance policies. Also, he launched the Social Security reform process, which endured financing restrictions and the animosity of physicians opposing the socialization of medical care. In 1951 the reform was approved, to extend coverage to blue collar workers and their families; separate health provision from healthcare security; emphasize preventive pediatric care in mother's health, and reproductive health. The basic tenets of healthcare reform were the right to health, solidarity, and equity, as the pillars of policy-making and healthcare programming. The question of whether the evolution of social security in Chile has been consistent with the original healthcare reform tenets is raised by the author.