Part I of the book covered the starting points for reform: guiding principles, attributes specific to the health sector, international experiences, and initial conditions found generally in Eastern Europe. Even if reformers in every Eastern European country embraced identical principles, their actual plans of action at any time would differ, because each country would face a different situation – legally, structurally, and economically, and in terms of public attitudes and political preferences. That is one reason why this book cannot present practical programs that go into detail.

Part II is confined to describing the general approach and broad outlines of the reforms that the authors consider reasonable and desirable. It is appropriate to reiterate here a point first made in the general introduction to the book (p. 61): we consciously acknowledge that the reforms we recommend reflect our values. This is not an à la carte list of reforms from which people may choose randomly or selectively – this for conservatives, that for centrists, the other for left-wing socialists. If the system of values expressed in chapter 2 is acceptable, readers can make good use of the package of interdependent reforms that follows in the rest of the book. If it is unacceptable, all they will gain from part II is knowledge of what practical changes would follow from the principles expounded earlier. Consequently, there will not be a comprehensive analysis, issue by issue, of all the substantive alternatives discussed in the literature on the subject.