The fundamental purpose of this article is to analyze certain concepts that define and explain the origin of the 1990s health care reforms in Latin America and to refute some of the more important principles, such as: the belief that improving the functional efficiency of the health care system alone would improve the health of the population; the excessive concern with the administrative and structural aspects of health systems without a discussion of the underlying theoretical models; the idea that access, in and of itself, can guarantee ?equity in health?; and lastly, the undo emphasis that was placed on individual ?risk factors? as the cause of all illness.