ABSTRACT
I ntroduction This chapter and the next look at the contribution of analysis to two key political issues - first, how much should be spent on the National Health Service (NHS ) , and secondly, how healthcare should b e financed. Although the NHS was launched in 1 948 with singularly little attention to the financial implications, these issues rapidly came to the fore . For the last 20 years they have rarely been out of the political headlines for any extended period.
