On Friday, the government announced that it is allocating funds in the budget to, among other things, strengthen high-cost protection for people over 67 years old. The Swedish Dental Association is mostly positive about the news.
Investing in the elderly is something we have been advocating for a long time, since oral health is so closely linked to quality of life and other health aspects, says Jenny Måhlgren, secretary-general of the Swedish Dental Association.
Should have waited
Regarding the details of the reform and how it will be designed, Jakob Forssmed refers to the dental care inquiry that will be submitted to the government on October 31.
Anders Jonsson, chief dentist at the dental care company Praktikertjänst, thinks it's backwards that the government is announcing an initiative for the elderly before the inquiry is complete.
We think they could have waited for the inquiry's proposals.
There are also many question marks about how the initiative for the elderly will be designed in practice.
Will it apply to all over 67, will it be income-related, and will it apply to all types of dental care? We know nothing about that, he says.
Rather need-based
He would rather see an initiative that is need-based and not age-based.
This becomes a bit random, there are 30-year-olds who have great needs for dental care, he says.
Social Minister Jakob Forssmed (KD) says that the initiative rather enables the inquiry.
We are not shooting down the inquiry, but creating a budgetary space to implement the inquiry's proposals when they come. Of course, we have had informal contacts with the investigator.
Both the Swedish Dental Association and Praktikertjänst are concerned about the supply of skills. The government highlighted the need for long-term work to secure it at the press conference.
It's positive, but it's only when we get the proposals on how this initiative will look that we can assess whether the funds will be sufficient and whether the measures are right to achieve the ambitious goals, says Jenny Måhlgren.
