Swedish Health System Overview
Health System Rankings
Health System Outcomes
Health System Coverage
Costs for Consumers
Health System Expenditures
Sweden’s COVID-19 Policy
Annual household out-of-pocket payment in current US$ per capita (2019): $787
Source: Global Health Expenditure Database. Health expenditure series. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed July 21, 2022.
Out-of-Pocket Spending as Share of Final Household Consumption (%) (2019): 3.4%
Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.
Current Health Expenditure As Percentage Of Gross Domestic Product (2019): 10.87%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Current health expenditure (CHE) as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed July 26, 2022.
Current Health Expenditure Per Capita (USD) (2019): $787
Source: Global Health Observatory. Current health expenditure (CHE) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed July 26, 2022.
Out-Of-Pocket Expenditure As Percentage Of Current Health Expenditure (2019): 13.88%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed July 26, 2022.
“Coverage is universal in Sweden, with health services either freely available or with small co-payments. User charges are set by the regions. For 2021, fees were SEK 100-300 (EUR 10-30) for a primary care visit, up to SEK 400 (EUR 40) for a specialist visit – which is lower with a referral – and SEK 100 (EUR 10) per day of hospitalisation for an adult. User fees for medical consultations are capped at SEK 1,150 (EUR 115) per individual per year, and for prescribed medicines at SEK 2,350 (EUR 235). Exemptions from user charges apply for people under 20, older people and pregnant women.”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Sweden: Country Health Profile 2021, 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.
“The number of people with private health insurance has increased rapidly in the last 15 years, and at the end of 2019 some 681,000 people had supplementary health insurance, although the type of coverage and premiums vary substantially. This insurance is mostly employment based, and mainly provides people with faster access to outpatient (ambulatory) visits and elective surgery, but often also includes health check-ups and other occupational health services. Although private health insurance coverage is still relatively marginal, it does raise concerns about equity in access to services.”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Sweden: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
“Some 14 % of health spending in Sweden is funded out of pocket – slightly lower than the EU average (15 %). Co-payments are applied to almost all types of services and goods, with the exceptions of maternal and child health services provided in primary care settings and some services for people aged over 85. The regions set the co-payments independently, and the co-payment structure provides an incentive to consult primary care providers over hospital visits. Only the co-payments for prescribed medicines and dental services are set at the national level. Most out-of-pocket spending goes on pharmaceuticals and dental care, as these services are generally less covered than hospital inpatient and outpatient care (Figure 14).”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Sweden: Country Health Profile 2021, 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 sixteen other nations.
Page last updated Dec. 28, 2022 by Doug McVay, Editor.
