The disconnect between profitability and litigiousness in brazilian supplementary health
a quantitative empirical analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12662/2447-6641oj.v24i45.6168.pe6168.2026Keywords:
supplementary health, judicialization of health, profitability, ANS roll, economic analysis of lawAbstract
Problem: Does the growing judicialization of disputes involving supplementary health care (private health plans) cause financial losses for insurance companies?
Context: This study examines the alleged correlation between the financial performance of private health plan operators and the volume of litigation in the sector between 2020–2024.
Method: Using data from ANS and CNJ, the study analyzes the relationship between the annual net profit of health plan operators (Y) and the annual number of judicial cases concerning supplementary health care (X). Preliminary results, after treating pandemic-related outliers, indicate a Pearson correlation close to zero, thereby refuting the hypothesis that an increase in litigation, by itself, produces a linear deterioration in financial outcomes. This phenomenon is, in fact, the result of a strategic calculation by health insurance companies, which benefit from delaying the resolution of disputes that are only partially settled through judicial proceedings.
Conclusion: The findings highlight the need to move beyond recurring narratives of an alleged “collapse” of the sector and suggest a regulatory and legal reassessment grounded in the understanding that judicialization, far from destabilizing the market, operates as a mechanism for correcting contractual and regulatory asymmetries.
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Copyright (c) 2026 José Mário Wanderley Gomes Neto, Leonardo Souza da Rocha Carvalho, Franklin Façanha da Silva
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