In Sweden, there are various grants and allowances to facilitate citizens’ finances. This includes everything from sickness benefit, sickness and activity allowance, unemployment insurance, establishment allowance and state dental care support.
Of the Swedish population, according to Economic facts62 percent of those aged 15-74 have some form of income from work as their primary source of income.
There is also 12 percent of the population aged 20-64 who take part in some form of social compensation from the state. In 2023, the largest form of compensation was health and activity insurance.
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In 2018, it was decided that it would be cheaper for Swedish citizens over 65 to go to the dentist. Namely, it was then that the general dental care allowance, also called ATB, was doubled.
Previously, the sum was SEK 300 per year and per person, the same as the current contribution for people aged 30-64.
But for those who are between 24-29 and those over 65, the sum was doubled from SEK 300 to SEK 600. However, few people seem to know that the grant exists and how big it actually is.
On Försäkringskassan’s website, it has been reported that the use of the grant since 2019 has been more or less unchanged. Only about 66 percent of citizens use it.
“In the country as a whole, the utilization rate is relatively constant at 66 percent. Women are better at using the grant than men. During the 24-month period July 2022 – June 2024, 71 percent of women used the grant compared to 62 percent of men,” they write on their website.
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Photo: Samuel Steén/TTPhoto: Tore Meek/TTFörsäkringskassan: That’s why more people don’t use the grant
Jonas Erlandsson is an analyst at Försäkringskassan and according to him there are large local variations in how the general dental care allowance is used.
– Seen as a whole, there are quite small variations in use, but we see that there are quite large local variations. We have not investigated exactly what these regional variations are due to, but it is likely that both proximity and access to dentists have an effect, he says in a press release.
The proportion who used the general dental care allowance was highest in Halland and Värmland during the period June 2021-June 2023. The lowest proportion who used it was in Norrbotten, however, where only 56 percent of the population took part in the hundreds of rupiahs that could reduce the dentist’s bill.
– Various factors can affect whether you go to the dentist. Finances are one such factor, if you have less money to move around with, dental visits can be a thing you prioritize away. We also see that people born abroad go to the dentist less often than people born in Sweden, Erlandsson concludes by saying.
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