SETTING HEALTH-CARE PRIORITIES IN SWEDEN - THE POLITICIANS POINT-OF-VIEW

In this report, the results of interviews with sixty local health care politicians in southern Sweden will be presented. It is evident from the material that despite their formal responsibility, the politicians are of the opinion that other actors exert greater influence upon the allocation of resources. They do not think that health care expenditu re need be extended, whereas fields such as care of the elderly and pr eventive medicine ought to receive extended contributions at the expen se of other publicly financed activities such as general mammography a nd in vitro fertilization. Somewhat more than a third of the politicia ns hold that the goal stipulated in the Swedish Health Care Act, i.e. to provide good health and care on equal terms, has not been fulfilled . Their attitudes towards priority criteria such as personal responsib ility, age, life expectancy, parenthood and productivity differ from c ase to case, and there is no clear-cut consensus. However, approximate ly half of the respondents agree wholly or partly that a person who pr omises to alter his or her unhealthy habits should be treated before s omeone who does not make such a promise. The same applies to the princ iple that those employed ought to be given priority in operating queue s, and in consequence of this utility perspective there are also incre ased demands upon the physicians to take economy into consideration in treating an individual patient.