Changes in the health policy of the Polish State were expressed in transformations undergone by the central authorities responsible for public health, and by their names. In 1918?2002, the Ministry in charge of the State health care system functioned as Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Ministry of Labour, Social Welfare and Health, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ministry of Public Health.

The State health policy, as all citizens are interested in it, is usually presented by the Prime Minister of a new government. The authors selected fragments, relating to public health, form speeches of many Prime Ministers.

The programme promises were the following: cheap food for the population; improvement of the workers lot; lower pension age limits; combating epidemic, infectious, work-related and civilisational diseases; fighting malnutrition in children; care for sanitary conditions; shifting attention from therapy to health protection, to prophylactic; easier access therapy; lower costs of services; social insurance in case of illness, disability, unemployment, old-age insurance; expanding medical and sanitary staff; medical care over mother and child, youth, working class and rural inhabitants; social welfare development; extending health care facilities; better quality health care and work organization; improvement of drug supply; counteracting social pathologies, especially alcoholism; necessity of decentralisation of the financing; restructuring of social insurance; connecting finances and medical services; modern primary health care at the place of residence, early diagnostics, standardised level of medical services in hospitals and modern emergency services; restoring the standing of medical professions.

Despite the fact that many slogans are repeated in the subsequent speeches, the changes in the State’s health policy, especially in the area of health services financing, can be observed.