2. The Historical Evolution of Health Concepts and Approaches: The Challenge of Complexity

An adage says that “myth is more potent than history” (Fulghum 1988, p. vii). Indeed, the myths of health care identified by Henry Mintzberg (2012) have proven to be stronger than both history and reality. They have played and still play a significant role in affecting health policies and practices, influencing the shapes of health care systems. The belief that the health care system is failing, the assumption that it could be fixed by detached social engineering and heroic leadership, the idea that public health care guarantees equality while private health care ensures efficiency, the blind trust in the healing role of management models drawn on the for-profit sector, the emphasis on scale and measurement, all these are common prescriptions to cure the illness of current health care systems.