ABSTRACT
Healthcare in Sweden is under local authority control: there are 23 county councils and three large municipalities. Compulsory insurance covers everyone, but user fees also have to be paid for all services, except hospital in-patient care, which are partially reimbursed from regionally-organized social insurance funds. Priority setting in Sweden has only just begun and with its healthcare system under local authority control, methods vary greatly. Work on priority setting has only recently begun in the nine district health authorities of Stockholm, and is concerned solely with finding out how resources are distributed between prevention, acute services and rehabilitation. Priority setting in Sweden has far failed to make provision for public consultation. Politicians have been fearful of raising the issue because of its electoral consequences. At present, primary care is handled mainly by district medical officers working in community health centres, but they cover only about a quarter or a third of demands.
