This article takes stock of the implementation of Brazil's public health system in the period since the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution, which enshrines the right to health. It analyzes issues affecting the organizational effectiveness of health service provision such as funding and relations between different spheres of government. It focuses on the role of local government, the centralization of legislative powers, which has been shown to weaken the member states, and the financial dependence of local and state governments on federal government and how this has affected policy implementation. It also touches on other issues such as regionalization, poor planning, federal centralism, and Ministry of Health-local government relations, which have hampered state coordination of regional health systems. To close, we put forward some final considerations for improving the implementation of policies oriented towards the development of SUS structures.