Indirect and invisible regulations set in stone: A driving force behind the rise of private health insurance in Sweden
This article points out different types of regulations that have provoked the rapid rise of private health insurance in Sweden, and discusses types of regulations that could potentially slow privatization. Further, the article analyzes three official welfare investigation reports. These reports avoid the decisive regulations on privatization and private health insurance that they are supposed to discuss, and sometimes go against directives to do so. The article argues that regulations for private health insurance have occurred without much debate, while every potential regulation against private health insurance is very much disputed by industry interests and many of the political parties.
John Lapidus is a research fellow in the Department of Economy and Society at University of Gothenburg. His research interests include comparative welfare states. He is the author of The Quest for a Divided Welfare State: Sweden in the Era of Privatization (Palgrave Macmillan 2019).