We will implement the largest dental care reform in over 20 years, says Minister of Health and Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed (KD) at a press conference.
The dental care reform is part of the Tidö Agreement with the Sweden Democrats (SD). The idea is to redirect today's dental care support and provide more support to the elderly with poor oral health. To afford the reform, free dental care for young people aged 19-23 will be abolished next year, which was announced in the budget last autumn.
We are directing dental care resources more according to need, says Forssmed.
Economic hardship is a reason why many elderly people, despite great need, do not visit the dentist. It gives them a worse life.
Not Clear
The Minister cannot say today how the new high-cost protection will be designed. The idea is that the high-cost protection for the elderly with poor oral health will be more similar to what exists in healthcare.
An investigation is working on presenting a proposal for the dental care reform. The proposal is to be ready by October 31. However, the government is already allocating 3.4 billion kronor to implement the reform from January 1, 2026.
We want to send a clear signal, not least to the industry, so they can prepare themselves. So it's still a reasonable order to announce this here and now, says SD's group leader in the Riksdag Linda Lindberg.
According to her, the Tidö parties have received advance information that 3.4 billion is a reasonable amount to budget for in the first stage.
Want to Go Further
The SD wants to eventually have an enhanced high-cost protection that covers the entire population and has previously mentioned a cost of 7 billion kronor.
Here we're taking the first step with the elderly, says Lindberg.
The investigation has been tasked with presenting a proposal that can be "scaled up" from the elderly to other parts of the population.
Today, there is a high-cost protection of 50 percent for costs exceeding 3,000 kronor per year, and 85 percent for costs exceeding 15,000 kronor. However, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which administers the high-cost protection, uses a reference price for different dental care services that is often significantly lower than the actual price.
There is also a dental care allowance.
