This Breve is based on the original thesis work and on a webinar presented by Dr. Fábio Ferride-Barros regarding the "Ethics of Health Resources Allocation in the Publicly Financed Health Care System in Brazil." The perspective offered in this Breve complements a previously published issue documenting the use of health technology evaluation in decision-making in Brazil's health sector (IDB, 2015). The Breve introduces the challenges of priority setting in the context of a large and decentralized national universal health care system, which confronts resource scarcity and substantial inequalities.