Making Sense of Markets in Health and Social Care (Health and Social Care in the 1990s)

The attempt to introduce market principles into health and social care has prompted concern and confusion. This text seeks to put contemporary concerns within a wider analysis, by examining the nature of quasi-markets and their application to both health care and social care. Official prescription is contrasted with implementational dilemmas. Although the book offers some suggestions on reconciling market and welfare ideologies, it warns that users could easily end up bearing the cost of a simplistic attachment to the virtues of the private sector.