Healthcare in Sweden
Healthcare In Sweden
Amanda Wilson
NUR301 Transition to Professional Nursing
Professor Lori Dowell
10/24/12
Healthcare in Sweden
There are pros and cons for any health care system researched. Obviously no country in the world has perfected the job of balancing supply and demand in a cost effect manner. Everyone has complaints about how the government runs things in their country and everyone has horror stories about how they have been treated at some point by the medical profession. After all of my research I believe that Sweden has incorporated many good aspects of service while only having a few downfalls. With continued reform Sweden’s healthcare system could become a highly efficient system.
Overview
The main objective of the Swedish healthcare system is to provide quality healthcare with equal access for all. There are three principles that are followed by the medical profession and those are:
“human dignity, which means that all human beings have an equal entitlement to dignity, and should have the same rights, regardless of their status in the community. Need and solidarity means that those in greatest need take precedence in medical care, and cost effectiveness means that when a choice has to be made from different health care options, there should be a reasonable relationship between the costs and the effects, measured in terms of improved health and improved quality of life.” (Anell et al, pg. 33)
The healthcare system is organized into three divisions: national, regional, and local. The main agency at the national level is the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. It oversees the other national agencies such as the Medical Products Agency (which regulates the manufacturing and sales of pharmaceuticals), Pharmaceutical Benefits Board (sets the prices on drugs), and the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies (which owns all pharmacies and is responsible for supplying drugs at uniform prices). (Hogberg, 2007) The regional agencies
Amanda Wilson
NUR301 Transition to Professional Nursing
Professor Lori Dowell
10/24/12
Healthcare in Sweden
There are pros and cons for any health care system researched. Obviously no country in the world has perfected the job of balancing supply and demand in a cost effect manner. Everyone has complaints about how the government runs things in their country and everyone has horror stories about how they have been treated at some point by the medical profession. After all of my research I believe that Sweden has incorporated many good aspects of service while only having a few downfalls. With continued reform Sweden’s healthcare system could become a highly efficient system.
Overview
The main objective of the Swedish healthcare system is to provide quality healthcare with equal access for all. There are three principles that are followed by the medical profession and those are:
“human dignity, which means that all human beings have an equal entitlement to dignity, and should have the same rights, regardless of their status in the community. Need and solidarity means that those in greatest need take precedence in medical care, and cost effectiveness means that when a choice has to be made from different health care options, there should be a reasonable relationship between the costs and the effects, measured in terms of improved health and improved quality of life.” (Anell et al, pg. 33)
The healthcare system is organized into three divisions: national, regional, and local. The main agency at the national level is the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. It oversees the other national agencies such as the Medical Products Agency (which regulates the manufacturing and sales of pharmaceuticals), Pharmaceutical Benefits Board (sets the prices on drugs), and the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies (which owns all pharmacies and is responsible for supplying drugs at uniform prices). (Hogberg, 2007) The regional agencies
References: Anell, A., Glenngård A.H., Merkur S. (2012). Sweden: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 14(5):1–187. Larson, S.R. (2008). Lessons from Sweden’s universal health system: tales from the health-care crypt. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 13(1), 21-22. Hogberg, D. (May 2007). Sweden’s single-payer health system provides a warning to other nations. National Policy Analysis, #555. Retrieved from http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA555_Sweden_Health_Care.html Anell, A. (2011). International Profiles of Health Care Systems, The Commonwealth Fund, 99-105.