Introduction to Health Policy

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
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INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
1. Description of Health Care System
a. The international health care system of Sweden in universal and it works
automatically for all people.
b. The different health care services offered in the system do not have any specific
package. The health care system is publically financed and have multiple services
included in it. These services are- preventive services and public health, inpatient and
outpatient specialized care, primary care, emergency care, outpatient and inpatient
prescription drugs, rehabilitation services, mental health care, support system for the
disabled, transport support services for the patients, long-term care, home care,
hospice care, nursing home care, optometry for children, dental care, adult dental care
and optometry for young people (with limited subsidies) (commonwealthfund.org
2016).
c. The system is publically fund from the taxes of the people. The responsibility of
financing and organizing the health care lies upon the municipalities and county
councils. There are 21 county councils and 290 municipalities that bear most
percentage of the expenditure for the health care. Almost 83 % of the expenditures in
the health care services are financed publically. The health care covers all the medical
services of the legal residents in the country.
d. The role of the nurses and advanced nurses are unavoidable in the health care system
of Sweden. The nurses are the person. Along with the General physicians who first
come in touch with the patients. The home care of the elderly or the primary care

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INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
patients are mostly done by the nurses (Linander et al., 2017). Nurses are the salaried
support system in the health care of the country.
e. The system is not fully based on the preventive care model but there are some
insurance and preventive care policies in the health care. Some of the preventive care
provided by the system is out-of-pocket or extra costing. Vaccinations and elderly
preventive care are exempted from the extra charges.
f. The Health and Medical Service Act of 1982 is considered to be the backbone of the
healthcare system of Sweden. This system is majorly funded by the public funds and
the county councils and municipalities along with the central government are
responsible for the operations. The emergency coverage is been provided to the
patients who are the resident of the European countries with whom the country has
bilateral agreements (Marcusson et al., 2019). The health care system covers all the
necessary primary and emergency health care. There are also insurance policies
which the residents can use for the health care services.
2. Costs of Health Care System
a. The health care system is mostly paid by the public taxes and funds. The county
councils and municipalities bare the cost of the patients’ treatment and care.
b. The county councils and the municipalities are the local government who bare the
maximum amount of cost of the patient care. The county councils are responsible for
funding the health care services (Pälvärinne et al., 2018). On the other hand, the
municipalities take care of the elderly house care and routine health care needs of the
patients. The central government look after to the whole health care system through
policy setting. The national government takes care of the health care standards,

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INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
healthcare personnel, develops norms, collects data and builds the standard of health
care system.
c. The patients without insurance or ability to pay can avail the emergency health care
services without any pay. Other than that there are schemes for the needy people in
the country run by the national governments that makes the health care available to
them in the public hospitals. The patients who are from the European country having
bilateral agreement with Sweden can also avail the health care services without
insurance. They can pay and avail the services in some cases.
d. There are no differences in coverage based on the income of the patients in the health
care system of Sweden.
e. The health care system of the country is mostly a public system and the costs are paid
by the public funds. This is a mixed system in the sense that there is private health
insurance as well where the patients can pay extra cost to avail specialized health care
experiences. Less than 1% of the whole health care expenditure is covered by these
private insurances.
3. Outcomes/Satisfaction of the health care system
The positive or negative aspects or the strengths and weaknesses of this system
One of the most positive aspect or advantage of this health care system is that this is
publically funded system. The country policy makers believe that health care is the
primary need of the residents and it should be available to them by all means. The
country residents do not have to wait for funding for getting the quality care. Strength

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INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
of this system is that the national health board takes care of the quality of the system
(Franzon et al., 2017).
The weakness or negative aspects of this system is that people with the requirement
of preventive care do not have any specific policy for them.
Are the residents of this country satisfied with this system?
Most of the residents of the country are quite satisfied by the health care system of
Sweden. They get the required health care support in every level of their lives and it is
publically funded.
4. Differences with US Healthcare System
 The healthcare expenditure of US is 17.8% of its total GDP while, in Sweden, this
is 11% in 2016 (Paul III, David & Schaeffer, 2017).
 The healthcare unit in US is more expensive than the health care units in Sweden,
so is the out-of-the pocket amounts.
 The health system in Sweden is mostly funded by the taxes while in US health
care is funded by the insurance amounts that the patients pay in their lifetime
along with the government funds.
 The US has a centralized health care system, while Sweden has decentralized
health care system. This is a advantage of Sweden as the responsibility is
distributed among the county councils and the municipalities.
 The healthcare system of Sweden is considered much better than that of the US in
every aspect.

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References
commonwealthfund.org (2016), The Swedish Healthcare System. Retrieved from:
https://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/sweden/
Franzon, B., Axtelius, B., Åkerman, S., & Klinge, B. (2017). Dental politics and subsidy systems
for adults in Sweden from 1974 until 2016. BDJ open, 3(1), 1-6.
Linander, I., Alm, E., Hammarström, A., & Harryson, L. (2017). Negotiating the (bio) medical
gaze–Experiences of trans-specific healthcare in Sweden. Social Science & Medicine,
174, 9-16.
Marcusson, J., Nord, M., Johansson, M. M., Alwin, J., Levin, L. Å., Dannapfel, P., ... &
Cedersund, E. (2019). Proactive healthcare for frail elderly persons: study protocol for a
prospective controlled primary care intervention in Sweden. BMJ open, 9(5).
Pälvärinne, R., Widström, E., Forsberg, B. C., Eaton, K. A., & Birkhed, D. (2018). The
healthcare system and the provision of oral healthcare in European Union member states.
Part 9: Sweden. British dental journal, 224(8), 647-651.
Paul III, D. D. S., David, P., & Schaeffer, K. C. (2017). Long-term care policy: What the United
States can learn from Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

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