Swedish health department rejects patient fund demands
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Sweden's ruling Social Democratic Party has rejected calls from the opposition Christian Democratic Party leader Alf Svensson to introduce a patient supplementary payment fund to boost the health service. Social insurance minister Ingela Thalen acknowledges that that more money must be injected into the system, and says that this must rise to 10% of the GDP compared with the present level of nearly 8%. This would mean a total of SKr25-30 billion ($2.4-2.9 billion) per year. During the past few years, the government has introduced a plan to tackle the deficit and a programme to make the health service more accessible at a cost of some SKr13 billion.