[The privatization of public services. The case of health services in Costa Rica].

This article analyzes the role of the State and public enterprises in the development of nations, from a particular standing point, and inquires into the privatization issue, reviewing both its concept and the possible mechanisms for its implementation. Also, emphasis is made on the selling of public enterprises as one of the several ways to privatize. Within this context, some measures for the reorganization of the Costa Rican National Health System are proposed. These measures uphold fundamental values of social justice. This article is based on a theoretical-conceptual framework from an innovative experience in health services management in Costa Rica, in which a self-managing cooperative society (a nonprofit enterprise) manages, by contract with national health care public institutions, an urban local health care system.