The idea of quasi-market in the social care sector is to introduce market principles (and hence market disciplines) into the public sector by separating purchasing from providing, and to change the balance in the mixed economy of welfare such that the state provided fewer services and the private sector provided more. This article examines the implications of the quasi-market idea for the role of the state and the quality of care. In contrast to the consensus in welfare scholarship, this article want to claim that are very important limits to this approach though. A critical point of view point indicates that for the implementation of quasi-market mechanisms in the social care sector is necessary a more comprehensive consideration of problems and changes as they are actually analyzed.