Since the early 70s, economists have tried to analyse health insurance and health care markets. In so doing, they have brought out the special features of this field of application, which require substantial adaptation of the standard economic tool kit. In conjunction with the twentieth anniversary of the Revue d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, it is timely to question the relevance of economics to health and health care, its strengths and weaknesses. Such will be the purpose of this presentation.