Everybody who wants access to healthcare for undocumented migrants in Sweden had a major boost when the government started an enquiry on the subject. The political climate demands enquiries before big changes in the law, but that didn’t prevent the responsible minister to give even bigger expectations of the enquiry’s outcome.

Two weeks ago, Göran Hägglund, the Swedish Minister for Health and Social Affaires, pronounced the magical word : Enquiry. The government has finally confirmed that they have appointed an enquiry concerning access to healthcare for asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. [1] So this enquiry that the government promised the first time in 2008, will finally take place and a committee is being appointed any day. The word enquiry is in many ways a symbol for the calm political climate in Sweden. Political decisions are always based on enquiries. [2]

A summary of the current Swedish law : undocumented migrants are excluded from the persons with a legal right to healthcare. They do have the right to urgent healthcare, but then also have to pay for the visit, the operation or the accouchement. [3] Some political parties and NGOs, like Médecins du Monde where I’m doing my internship, want a law that gives undocumented migrants the same right and access to healthcare as nationals, that is subsidized healthcare. [4]

The Situation before the Election
The election to the parliament is in September and there is two big political coalitions standing against each other :

1. The Right Wing that now constitutes the government (the Conservative Party, the Centre Party, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats)
2. The Red and Green Opposition (the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party and the Left Party)

Today five of the parties want a change of the law so that undocumented migrants would have access to healthcare on the same premises as nationals. Only the big parties – the Conservatives and the Social Democratic Party – are opposing or hesitating. The Conservatives is standing firm and it is hard to see them changing opinion. But the Social Democrats could absolutely become more open to a radical change of the law. The day before the promises from the Minister, the Red and Green opposition presented their politics concerning preventive health politics. The spokesperson for the Social Democrats - who earlier has been Minister for Social Affairs - said that “the human right to health is the most important of equalities”. If this quote could be used during the campaign 2010, the most influential party in the opposition should have a hard time defending a Status Quo of the current law.

The Minister goes wild
After the Minister Hägglund had appointed this enquiry, he made something even more sensational. Urging the county councils and hospitals to have clear policies until the enquiry is done including a more open policy against undocumented migrants that puts the current law out of play. Some county councils have already started to do this, and there are more to come after this statement. So this time, it wasn’t only an enquiry ; it was an enquiry with an extra flavour.

It took the government almost two years to form a plan for how the work would proceed. Strategically, it can be analyzed in many ways and I will mention two. The first is that the government waited for so long because now the enquiry won’t be complete before the election that takes place in September. So the governmental parties that are divided in the question don’t have to agree. Instead they can refer to the ongoing enquiry. From another perspective, the Minister for Social Affairs who is a Christian Democrat had to start the enquiry now and also make a few controversial statements to prevent his party to lose its place in the parliament in the election. This is a tactic to keep a distance to the Conservative Party and to gain votes.

Everybody knows the outcome ?
Speculations about the Minister’s purpose can continue, but the important thing is that the enquiry can start so that a change of the law can take place. But the political climate is a little absurd when the responsible Minister tells county councils to precede the upcoming law, because we have to wait for the enquiry before being able to change the law. Of course, there is different alternatives how the law is written and if there will be other possible obstacles for undocumented migrants to get healthcare after it is complete. But it could be hard to see why the enquiry is even needed if a radical change of the law is so obviously going to take place. Unless you live in Sweden of course. Then you know that an enquiry is always needed.