Atención materna en un ambiente de mercado de servicios de salud, Medellín-Colombia, 2008-2009

objective: to analyze accessibility to maternity care services in the city of medellin, within the context of the colombian social security system for health. metho dology: a qualitative approach was used; 23 in-depth interviews were conducted to medical doctors and nurses who provide health care to mothers and/or manage health institutions. also, three focus groups with mothers were carried out. a coding and categorizing process was used to analyze information following grounded theory process. findings: in spite of the fact that maternal-child care is a priority issue, mothers experiment difficulties to access to health services, given by the insurance system, fragmentation of services in contracting out process between insurer and hospitals -linked with competence based on lower prices- and the dominant status of private health insurers.