ABSTRACT
On one hand, people today have become accustomed to having some help in shouldering the costs of health care, especially when they are basically well and experience it as their right; on the other hand, they chafe under the restrictions imposed by the agencies that provide it. Newspapers regularly carry reports of the disaffection of health care providers as well as the public, and there is constant discussion of possible approaches to mending or overhauling the system. The struggle surrounding the provision of mental health services in the United States reflects several crises of values. The crisis of values between psychoanalysis and managed care seems to the editors to mirror a long-standing crisis in the society. The final result is as yet unknown, but it is clear that, although both parties are aware of the sorry state of affairs under the present systems, it is politics that will determine the shape of the future.
