Chapter three: Privatisation and marketisation within a healthcare system: The swedish

Abstract

Sweden has a universal, tax-financed healthcare system which provides a comprehensive package of health services to the entire population at little or no out of pocket cost for the individual. When the system was implemented during the post-war period, it was believed by the ruling social democratic party that a virtually exclusive public provision of services would ensure that the system remained egalitarian and health services would be distributed on the basis of medical need, rather than employment or ability to pay. The market-orienting reforms undertaken in the system during the 1990s and 2000s, which led to an increased share of private, predominantly for-profit care providers, appears to have undermined these principles. The entry of private care providers has also led to a growing market for voluntary private health insurance.