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Social Democrats: Healthcare matching needs, not wallets

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Healthcare consists of roughly one-tenth of Sweden’s GDP. The current government wants to increase privatization and strengthen competition within healthcare. The Red-Green alliance is mainly opposed to this. Explain your differing views!

We want Swedish healthcare to be world class. The size of your wallet or the insurance you can afford should never decide whether you will get healthcare or not. There’s no shortcut — world class healthcare needs educated staff, hospitals of the highest quality and, not least, successful medical science.

The current government has, step by step, changed the law so that we’re getting further away from equal healthcare for all. Now it’s allowed for people who have private insurance or can pay for themselves to “cut in line” in front of someone with greater medical needs. It’s also allowed to sell hospitals that we have paid for together. We want healthcare matching needs, not wallets.

Jytte Guteland (SSU)

September 13, 2010

  • http://twitter.com/swedense swedense

    #Social #Democrats – healthcare should match needs, not wallets http://bit.ly/caYz0W #healthcare #sweden #swedish #election #val2010 #blog

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  • Pol – Croatia

    In Croatia most of the healthcare is in public sector too, while there are also some private clinics and practices. Also, it is allowed to some medical workers to combine social/public and private/profit activities.

    By my opinion the existence of private medical sector could be largely seen as a recognition of failure of public medical system, with only few possible exceptions. I have spoken with a dentist who was initialy a public one in the 1980′s, but in the 1990′s went to private sector. She said that when she finished her medical studies and started to work, the (ex. Yugoslav) government have just had invested considerable resources in state of the art equipement, working environment and needed resources. But when the state began to crumple she had to improvise and make unsatisfactorily service to patients. Also, she saw no more room for personal and service development. So she was actualy compelled to make a move in the private direction.

    However, because of this practice and unapropriate conditions some public medical services have suffered lack of medical personel especially at regional hospitals. I have personally been compeled to occasionaly use some private medical services also because of unapropriate waiting lists, some quality issues, but also comparable level of prices for services not covered by public medical insurance.

    However, the problems of croatian healthcare are really numerous, beginnig from actual hospitals, which are still mostly located in unapropriate 19. century buildings. Some investments in renovation and equipement, as well as in educating personel were made during the years, but billions of extra money would have to be invested to achieve a really modern healthcare system. There are some plans being made about it, but these are quite slow to realise.
    In these circumstances the presures toward more private hospitals are likely to emerge, at least from those who can afford it, and also because people are sometimes willing to give all what they have for becoming healthy again. This is unfortunately a formidable ground for possbile coruption, fraud and costly superstitious treatments. …

    I dont know how this goes in Sweden, but by my experience in Croatia much more should be done also about preventive actions, systematic health controls (up to regular MR scans) and improving medical files for health surveillance. And not to leave a health issue only at responsibility of individual citizens and their individual motivation to report for irregular health check. …

  • http://blogs.sweden.se Ingrid Anderson

    To the Swedish Government:

    I am hoping to move to Sweden. I was born in the United States, but it never felt like a country to me. My grandparents who were from Sweden loved their family and Sweden. My paternal grandfather was a Swedish photographer who had his own dark room and took so many photo of the Swedish people’s immigration to the United States. I used to sit by my dad as he told such great stories.

    My depression is from this country, and how I am living. What country would send an eight year old girl a social security number – 480-84-7005. I never had any interest in it. I know my Dad was afraid if we said anything I would be taken from them.

    I would like to move to Sweden. I don’t like the United States. It was never my country. I always remember my gentleman father putting out the American flag on certain American memorial days. If he had only known.

    Most Sincerely,

    Ingrid Anderson

  • Monica-USA

    Wonderful story and I love those Adidas shoes and the pictures are lovely. I still snicker when I hear the name of the campus it reminds me of Charlie Brown cartoon character. :)