The paper attempts to analyse the most important changes in the process, initiated in 1990s, of reforming the health care system in Poland. The study is based on the legal regulations which are of crucial importance for introducing the reform hypothesis. The paper focuses on the presentation of the most important changes undergone by institutions functioning within the health care system, i.e. problems of health care units, especially in the public sector, and its role in privatisation of health services as well as the competences of local governments as managers of health care. Moreover, the study discusses fundamental problems of the Health Insurance Funds acting as a payer for health services in the health care system under reform. In addition, the authors signalise possible solutions foreseen by the law on common health insurance in the National Health Fund.