Introduction to Health Policy

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH POLICY
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author notes

1INTRODUCTION 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

2INTRODUCTION 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,