Sweden's health care system: The delivery of health care services within a national/local system

Abstract

The health care system in Sweden is based on the goals of achieving comprehensive and universal health care services. Yet alongside these goals there are still some significant issues that are of concern to Swedish health policy makers. Services within the health care system appear to be generally adequate, but there are emerging equity and related adequacy issues such as dental care availability for ethnic minorities, gender equality among staff within the health care system, and a comparison of public and private services in terms of wait times for care. Also the variation of pharmaceutical subsidies among the counties, the equity and organizational priority issues regarding delivery of health services at the county council level and delivery of long-term care services at the municipal level, as well as overall availability of health care resources in the future, are current issues of concern.