pic: aftonbladet.com
DN published the results of an investigation today in which it is reported that people with private health insurance were receiving care at clinics and hospitals many times faster than patients who were only part of the Sweden-wide general health insurance. Of the ten healthcare providers DN contacted, nine reported that they gave priority to private health care clients.
At the end of 2018, DN reports, over 618,000 Swedes had private health insurance; one person in seven. Insurance companies provide their clients with access to networks of doctors and other specialists with whom appointments can be booked without getting a formal referral (remiss) – something that patients on the tax-payer financed insurance need to do.
The official care guarantee is backed by law: Patients have the right to meet with a specialist within three months. Within three months is also the time a patient is supposed to have the operation or other treatment they need. However, the number of people who have had to wait longer than three months, sometimes much much longer, has risen from 14% to 30% over the last five years.
For patients with private insurance however, DN writes, a person can meet with a specialist within a few days even without a referral, and get the needed operation as fast as two weeks later. Even getting an x-ray or a blood test is a quick process.
It isn’t entirely bad news for the tax-payer insured though. Only four of the healthcare providers do not provide care within the regulatory three month guarantee time, meaning that although they may prioritize privately insured patients, five of the health care companies make sure their publicly-insured patients can still see the doctor they need to see within the required three months. Small mercies.
Of course, this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be when health insurance was first made available. Private health insurance was, and is, touted as relieving – unburdening – the public healthcare system. The Swedish Health and Medical Service Act (Hälso- och sjukvårdslag) stipulates that healthcare is provided with respect to the equal value of all people and for the dignity of the individual. The patient with the greatest need is always to be attended to first.
Reports like this indicate, though, that something is sick, and it’s not the patients.