ABSTRACT
In 1981 the Chilean healthcare system was caught by the massive wave of privatization that flooded the country after military dictator General Augusto Pinochet orchestrated a coup in 1973. A group of highly trained economists, disciples of Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago, the so-called ‘Chicago Boys’, were in the centre of all efforts to transform both Chilean state and economy under the premises of neo-liberal ideology (Holst, 2001a, p16). After the military coup, they joined the government and were promoted in top positions (Gonzalez-Rossetti and Chuaqui, 2000, p3).
