Long waits, staff shortages and poor primary care quality due to low staffing have become familiar features of the Swedish healthcare debate since the pandemic, turning the health service into a test of whether the country’s welfare model is still delivering what voters expect.
Political parties across the political spectrum are promising solutions for the issue that matters the most for Swedish voters, but doctors and nurses question whether the changes are what the system actually needs, pointing to improving working conditions and staffing, as well as strengthening primary care.
Getting it right could grant political parties many votes, as some 64% of voters named healthcare among their most important political issues in an August poll, up from 55% in May, followed by education and crime and public safety. Some voters are ready to even change a party that pays attention to healthcare, according to separate polling by Novus for pharmaceutical industry group Lif, which found that 34% could consider changing parties.
With that in mind, parties are pitching increasingly ambitious campaign pledges for fixing the healthcare system ahead of the 13 September election.
The political proposals
