Even though inflation has now fallen and the regions will be in a better situation next year than this, the government believes that support is needed because it takes time for the regions' economy to recover. The organization Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) expects a deficit of around 20 billion kronor this year.
If individual regions or municipalities are satisfied or not remains to be seen, but we think, and we mean, that we have made exceptional investments, says Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (The Moderate Party) at a press conference on Friday.
Lower costs
Now that inflation has been combated, improvements in the regions' economy can be seen ahead, although different regions differ, according to Svantesson. She states that the regions' pension costs are expected to decrease by 25 billion kronor.
The government has supported the regions with a total of 12 billion kronor this year, including targeted grants to healthcare and temporarily increased general state subsidies. If temporarily increased general state subsidies will also be provided next year, the finance minister does not want to answer. The budget will be presented in its entirety on September 19.
There are always general state subsidies in a budget, but the size and level will be returned to.
Lacking capacity
In the upcoming budget proposal for 2025, an additional 1 billion kronor is also proposed for the regions to create more hospital beds and shorten healthcare queues. The grant is performance-based, which means that regions need to show results to receive it.
There are also previously decided investments to increase healthcare capacity in 2025. According to the government, they amount to a total of 7.5 billion kronor, including the new billion- kronor addition.
We have too low healthcare capacity both for regular healthcare and for times when we would need to increase preparedness, says Healthcare Minister Acko Ankarberg.
Corrected: In an earlier version, an incorrect amount was stated for the government's investments in the regions in 2024.
For 2025, the government and the Sweden Democrats propose the following:
2 billion kronor will be allocated in a targeted sector grant to healthcare, distributed according to healthcare needs.
1 billion kronor will be allocated in performance-based funds to improve accessibility in healthcare and shorten healthcare queues.
In addition, the government wants to invest an additional 100 million kronor in 2025 to establish a national healthcare coordination system that will find available healthcare capacity in the country to reduce healthcare queues in other parts of the country. In total, the government is investing 250 million kronor in the national healthcare coordination system in 2025.
50 million kronor will go to an equal introduction of precision health. That is, a working method that is based on an individual patient's conditions to tailor prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.
