As I mentioned in my presentation in Washington last October (“A Transatlantic Malaise”), politicians everywhere would do well to get the facts before referring to the Swedish model. As state provision of welfare services started earlier in Sweden, it also started creaking earlier, and alternatives emerged before relative to comparable countries.
New evidence of a healthy change in public opinion may be found in a survey released this week by our colleagues at Timbro. A positive result of the breakdown of the Swedish monopolistic health care system is that the young generation (especially age 16-29) looks with favour on private options in social services.
Try this for size:
- three out of ten people think that private financing may need to increase for health and elderly care
- about half of this population consider this a positive development, and the younger are the most positive: 55 per cent of people age 16-29, and 49 per cent of the age group 30-44 think this "rather or very good".
Perhaps more surprising is the figure for the population age 60 and above: 48 per cent (the same as for the overall population) of the oldest Swedes are rather or very positive (as a proportion of those who replied that private provision of welfare services will increase in at least one area).
Last but not least, 51 per cent also think it largely positive if citizens were able to access private insurance for welfare services, beyond what the state provides. (There was an ominous attempt in 2008 by the supposedly centre-right government to abolish this option.) And again, the strongest supporters are found among the 16-29 year-olds.
There is room for optimism in the home country of cradle-to-grave socialism.
New evidence of a healthy change in public opinion may be found in a survey released this week by our colleagues at Timbro. A positive result of the breakdown of the Swedish monopolistic health care system is that the young generation (especially age 16-29) looks with favour on private options in social services.
Try this for size:
- three out of ten people think that private financing may need to increase for health and elderly care
- about half of this population consider this a positive development, and the younger are the most positive: 55 per cent of people age 16-29, and 49 per cent of the age group 30-44 think this "rather or very good".
Perhaps more surprising is the figure for the population age 60 and above: 48 per cent (the same as for the overall population) of the oldest Swedes are rather or very positive (as a proportion of those who replied that private provision of welfare services will increase in at least one area).
Last but not least, 51 per cent also think it largely positive if citizens were able to access private insurance for welfare services, beyond what the state provides. (There was an ominous attempt in 2008 by the supposedly centre-right government to abolish this option.) And again, the strongest supporters are found among the 16-29 year-olds.
There is room for optimism in the home country of cradle-to-grave socialism.
