Sweden: Continued Marketization within a Universalist System

Abstract

In this chapter we describe the regulatory changes that have taken place in the Swedish health care system during the 2000s. Three main reform trends are identified: privatization in the primary care sector, the strengthening of patient rights and re-centralization of regulatory power within the system. All these reforms have roots that go back to the 1990s, when patient choice and private alternatives were first introduced in the system and the central state began to try to find ways to take back some of the regulatory powers lost during its far-reaching decentralization in previous decades. All three reform trends were, however, reinforced during the 2000s. After 2006, when a centre-right government coalition took office, they were also given a more coherent and ideologically articulated frame, foremost in that values like private provision and patient rights were stressed.