Annual household out-of-pocket payment, current USD per capita (2017): $888

Source: Global Health Expenditure Database. Health expenditure series. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 10, 2020.

Out-of-Pocket Spending as Share of Final Household Consumption (%) (2017): 3.8%

Source: OECD (2019), Health at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4dd50c09-en.

“The Swedish system provides coverage for all residents, regardless of nationality, while emergency coverage is provided to all patients from the EU/ EEA and via bilateral agreements. Services are either free or highly subsidised, with user charges set by the regions for primary and specialist care. For 2019, fees were 0-300 kronor (EUR 0-28) for a primary care visit, 200-400 kronor (EUR 19-38) for a specialist visit and 100 kronor (EUR 9.5) per day of hospitalisation for an adult. User fees for medical consultations are capped at 1 150 kronor (EUR 109) per individual per year, as are prescribed medicines at 2,300 kronor (EUR 218). Exemptions from user charges apply for children, adolescents, pregnant women and older people.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2019), Sweden: Country Health Profile 2019, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“Patient fees
“– Hospital stay: max SEK 100/day
“– Primary care: SEK 0–300, depending on the county council
“– Specialist visits: max SEK 400

“High-cost ceiling
“A patient never has to pay more than a total of SEK 1,100 for medical consultations in the course of 12 months – any consultations exceeding SEK 1,100 are free of charge. For prescription medication, nobody pays more than SEK 2,250 in a given 12-month period.

(Note: As of September 25, 2019, the exchange rate was 9.75 Swedish Krona (SEK) to one US dollar.)

Source: The Swedish Institute. “Healthcare In Sweden.” Last accessed September 25, 2019.

“Some 15% of health spending in Sweden is funded by out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure – slightly lower than the EU average. The fees are applied to almost all types of services and goods, with the exceptions for maternal and child health services provided in primary care settings and some services for people aged over 85. The regions set the fees independently, and the fee structure provides an incentive to consult primary care over hospital visits. Only the fees for prescribed medicines and dental services are set at a national level. Most OOP spending goes on pharmaceuticals, dental care and other outpatient care, as these services are generally less covered than hospital inpatient care (Figure 16).”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2019), Sweden: Country Health Profile 2019, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“Sweden’s health system provides universal population coverage for a broad basket of services. The majority of OOP is thus attributable to cost sharing requirements. These include co-payments for most health services adults use in Sweden, including hospitalization. Co-payments for health care visits and hospitalization vary across the 21 counties although policies have converged over time. Co-payments are differentiated to steer patients towards use of primary care during office hours. Co-payments for visits to specialist doctors without a referral are about twice as much as for a regular visit to a primary care doctor. In most counties children below age 20 are exempt from co-payments. There is a combined cap for each 12 month period determined at the national level, maximizing total co-payments for outpatient care. Deductibles, co-payments and caps for prescription drugs and dental care are determined fully at the national level. Dental care for individuals under age 22 is free. For adults, there is a deductible of SEK 1000 (€103) for prescription drugs followed by a stepwise increase in subsidies ending in a 12 months cap of SEK 2200 (€226). For dental care to adults, the deductible is SEK 3000 (€308), followed by increase in co-insurance to 85% above SEK 15,000 but without an overall cap. Additional minor changes in terms of additional subsidies for dental care to elderly were introduced in 2013. In 2009, prescription cost-sharing policy was changed such that patients now usually pay the full price for generic alternatives that are not the lowest cost generic. In 2012 cost-sharing limits on prescriptions as well as for outpatient services were increased (from SEK 1800 to SEK 2200 (€ 185–226) and SEK 900 to SEK 1100 (€ 92–113) respectively). These increased cost sharing requirements seem not to have had great impact on the average growth rate in 2004–2014, which was lower than in the previous period. This can perhaps be explained by the fact that the requirements were relatively minor and partially offset by better dental benefits.”

Source: Rice, Thomas et al. “Revisiting out-of-pocket requirements: trends in spending, financial access barriers, and policy in ten high-income countries.” BMC health services research vol. 18,1 371. 18 May. 2018, doi:10.1186/s12913-018-3185-8.

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and several other nations.

Page last updated May 18, 2021 by Doug McVay, Editor.