American hospitals in the British health care market.

regarded-as the most socialized system of health care in Europe and North America. It was financed largely out of general taxation, it was free at the point of use, and the private market was all but eliminated when hospitals were brought into public ownership and doctors became state employees. However, in the last decade the nature of health care provision has changed significantly, and it has done so partly because of the movement into Britain of American hospital corporations and American ideas. The aim of this article is to examine the recent growth of private health care in Britain, to discuss the influence of American providers on these developments, and to consider the possible changes to the public/private mix in health care that may result from the publication of the 1989 Government White Paper, Working for Patients.