Renovating the Commons: Swedish Health Care Reforms in Perspective

Recent reform experience in Sweden supports the premise that key dimensions of a country's health care system reflect the core social norms and values held by its citizenry. The fundamental structure of the Swedish health system has remained notably consistent over the past half century, that i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of health politics, policy and law Vol. 30; no. 1-2; pp. 253 - 276
Main Authors Saltman, Richard B., Bergman, Sven-Eric
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Duke University Press 01.02.2005
Duke University Press, NC & IL
Subjects
Cultural values
Culture
Efficiency, Organizational
Equality
European Studies
Health care
Health care policy
Health Care Reform - organization & administration
Health Care Reform - trends
Health Care Services
Health policy
Humans
Law
Medicine and Health
Organizational Innovation
Policy Making
Policy studies
Politics
Primary health care
Public Health and Health Policy
Public sector
Reform
Security
Social conditions & trends
Social norms
Social Values
Sociocultural Factors
State Medicine - organization & administration
State Medicine - trends
Studies
Sweden
Values
Sweden
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Summary:Recent reform experience in Sweden supports the premise that key dimensions of a country's health care system reflect the core social norms and values held by its citizenry. The fundamental structure of the Swedish health system has remained notably consistent over the past half century, that is, tax-based fi nancing and publicly operated hospitals. Yet on other, nearly as important,parameters, there has been substantial change, for example, the persistent pursuit for thirty years of a stronger primary care framework and the effort to allow patient choice of doctor, health center, and hospital within the publicly operated system. This particular combination of continuity and change has occurred as traditional Swedish values of (equality)and (security) have been challenged in an environment shaped by an aging population, changing medical technology, and Sweden's integration into the European Single Market. This article explores the ongoing process of health system development in Sweden in the context of the country's broader social and cultural characteristics.
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ISSN:0361-6878
1527-1927
DOI:10.1215/03616878-30-1-2-253