Journal of health & social policy
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The National Health Service in England is on the verge of sweeping changes that would apply free-market methods to the state-financed health care system. The government proposal, WORKING FOR PATIENTS, would bring about the most far-reaching changes in the NHS since it was founded following World War II. ⋯ One cannot understand the proposed changes in the NHS in abstraction from the broader context of the basic principles upon which the NHS was originally established: universalism, equality, accessibility, and continuity of care. The so-called reforms contained in the White Paper potentially threaten an internationally unique national health care system.