It is election year and healthcare is an important issue for voters.
Minister of Social Affairs Lena Hallengren (S) has appointed an inquiry with the aim of ensuring that it is not possible to buy ahead of the queue through private health insurance.
If her idea goes through, private hospitals will not be able to have agreements with both public health care and insurance companies.
- This leads to them choosing the private payers first and then we should not have it in Sweden, she said recently at a press conference.
Head of Carlanderska annoyed
But the head of Carlanderska, Ann Söderström, who until a year ago had the heavy post of director of health and medical care in the Västra Götaland region, is annoyed by the proposal.
- I do not see the problem.
Here in our waiting room are people who come via insurance or via public care and we make no difference to them.
We only make medical assessments of who should go first in the queue, she says.
Written letter to Lena Hallengren
That is why she is now inviting the Minister to the hospital in a letter to discuss.
It says, among other things:
"Insurance-financed care corresponds to less than one percent of care, I think we should devote more time to the 99 percent that are publicly funded."
Lena Hallengren greets via her press secretary that she has not yet decided whether she will come, but that no trip is planned in the near future.