Why Sweden hospital prices are lower
Sweden sets one hospital price — a DRG, a tariff, or a budget. The hospital takes it. It cannot charge each plan a different secret multiple. In the US the must-have hospital extracts 2–3× Medicare from job plans that cannot walk. The insurer passes that through. It does not set it.
County global budgets
How it works
Regions (counties) run the hospitals on global budgets. Specialists are often salaried. Volume is planned. There is no employer picking a secret network price for the tower.
Why it holds
A budget is a hard stop. The hospital cannot bill its way to a US commercial night. Sweden’s specialist pay is about 31¢ on the US dollar — the lowest on these tabs — and the hospital index is still about 40¢. Price, not skipped sepsis.
The invoices
See iFHP, RAND hospitals, Papanicolas.