Reality and myth about legal healthcare support and quality of life in the Brazilian elderly

Abstract

Realidade e mito sobre apoio legal em saúde e qualidade de vida de brasileiros idosos (resumo: p. 11) Realidad y mito sobre apoyo legal en salud y calidad de vida de brasileños ancianos (resumen: p. 12) The main aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the government's social security cover on support and healthcare and its impact on quality of life of elderly in Brazil. We examine discursively in a qualitative study the State's political commitment towards ageing issues; ageing seen as a social problem; and the government policies to ensure the quality of life in Brazil. Our main finding was that Brazilian's elderly protection laws will cease to be a myth when these same elders are aware that they need to participate at all levels of government in the preparation of plans and policies and also to put them into practice. In this way the older person will have mastery over what is management and will be prepared to manage conflicts between individual interests and the policies of the government.