Sweden Health Care System Case Study

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Sweden’s health care system is ranked number 23 out of 191 countries by the World Health Organization (WHO). This shows how Sweden’s health care system is integrated and impressive it is one of the best in the world. Many countries model their healthcare system after Sweden in many ways. To start off, the history of Sweden’s health care system began with 6 principles that laid the foundation down for their health care system; firstly their ultimate goal of public health laws was "that the population should be in good health. Secondly, they made it where "justice" and equality/availability remained their most important core principles. Thirdly, the county regions have responsibility for health care planning. Next, the county councils can impose Some problems in Sweden’s health care system include; what role should the state play in health care, long term care issues, and long wait times whether that be for surgery or primary care physician. First, a big problem in Sweden healthcare is the role the state should play in health care. Governance issues in Sweden have increased over the past couple of years. “The OECD noted that the biggest challenge to continued excellence in Sweden 's health and social care system is the issue of coordinating care between hospitals, primary care and local authorities - a note that will be familiar to policymakers in the UK and many other countries.” (Svanborg-Sjövall, 2014) Another problem in Sweden’s health care is the issues on long term care. The main problem with long term care in Sweden is financing it. Looking at the financials for long term care needs to be reorganized. The price for long term care in Sweden has risen because of the government not looking more into financing it and placing money elsewhere. Organization for finances is crucial when dealing with people’s health care. “Cases have been reported in which patients have had to pay US$1,100 a month for inferior facilities.” (Gennser, 1999) Another problem people that live in Sweden are extremely upset about is the long wait “One told me that whereas in the United States a wealthy or well-insured patient might schedule a hip replacement with only a week’s notice, in Sweden the wait could be as long as three months. He described such waits as a design feature, noting that they allowed facilities to be used at consistently high capacity, and thus more efficiently.” (Rosenthal, 2014) Resolving the long wait time issue in Sweden and the United States can be accomplished by providing more physicians for patients. This could be accomplished with new ways of reorganizing health care

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