Swedish Health Care
Image: sweden.se
Felix Rippy is a founding partner at Rippy, Henderson & Taylor, PC, where he has spent more than two decades handling civil cases, accruing more family law clients than any lawyer in the history of his home county. Now a graduate student at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Felix Rippy is participating in a study abroad program in Sweden covering that country’s health care policy.
Though it has one of the highest costs of living in Europe, Sweden also boasts a health care policy that has increased the living standards of its citizens. Numerous other nations use the Swedish health care system as a model for their own due to its inclusivity and scope.
Sweden spends less than 10 percent of its total GDP on healthcare, but has created policies that ensure access to healthcare for all. In Sweden, citizens and expats are entitled to healthcare through the nation’s 20 city councils. This decentralized system ensures each community works to provide quality care to its residents, whether they have regular medical needs or are living with disabilities.
These policies also help minimize the overall cost of care. When seeking medical care, adults pay for their services at low out-of-pocket costs. Generally, visits to the physician cost less than SEK 250 (28 USD) and hospital stays will set them back SEK 100 (11 USD) per day.
As a result, Sweden has seen an increase in life expectancy and birth rates while simultaneously experiencing a reduction in mortality. The country is taking further steps to better its health care system by providing improved specialized services to patients as well as increasing patient safety.
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