Poor European immigrants are denied medical care in Sweden

Tuesday, 09 July 2013
As the new law that will ensure that, even undocumented residents in Sweden would receive healthcare get on the way, it has also emerged that EU citizens without health insurance would continue not to have access to healthcare in the country.

Thos hit are the poorest people in the society who have carried their weak economic statue from where ever they came from to Sweden. They would be fully denied care when they get sick in Sweden.

Swedish television report that the support centres that provide care services to people outside the official healthcare system, Crossroads has been collecting Europeans who left their homelands with the hope of a better life in Sweden. After arriving Sweden, they have found that the grass is not greener on the other side as trumpeted as such they have no access to healthcare and a home and no money.

The vast majority were admittedly poor in their own countries of origin as well, but they were not homeless before they came here. Many are Romanian Romas specialising in begging on the streets, others are Africans legally resident in southern European countries but as their economies collapsed, they have moved northward.

Actually, they only stay in Sweden for about three months, but many remain much longer in difficult conditions. Some are living on odd jobs, mostly in restaurants or in the construction industry. Others are begging on the streets, and such money is rarely enough for accommodation so now that the weather has improved, they are sleeping under the open sky.

Rolf Bystrom working as a doctor for the homeless in Stockholm describes them as a new group of homeless. They are not drug or alcohol abusers, they have no mental illness - they are just very poor.

During the spring, Rolf Bystrom and a nurse were working for the support Centre Crossroads one day each week and offered simple health care to this group.
"They are not seriously ill, often it just colds, repetitive strain injuries and gynaecological disorders. However, even common diseases has becomes difficult when living under such conditions, he said to Swedish television.

Now in the summer, the health care clinic that was established for EU migrants is closed and the staff at Crossroads may refer them to the usual Swedish healthcare. But there they encounter trouble often.
"Many people come to me and tell me they went to a medical center or hospital, but they have been rejected as they did not have the blue EHIC" says Tiberiu Lacatus at Crossroads to Swedish television.

All who come to hospitals in Sweden and need emergency medical care get it, but it is when it comes to other, less serious, condition there is a problem. It usually has to do with wounds and skin conditions, chronic conditions such as asthma and cardiovascular disease or pain in the stomach or head.

For that kind of care, all EU citizens are expected to show up their blue health card, which entitles the holder to subsidized medical care wherever they go in the EU.
It may even be enough identification so the care caregiver may then be bill the home Member healthcare service.
However, this poorest group has no health insurance card. They have not worked and paid taxes in their home countries and are not available in home country social security system. In practice, the asylum seekers and undocumented non-EU citizens, even if they have permission to stay in Sweden for three months have similar situation but are taken care of.

On July 1, a new law that states that adults who reside in Sweden without a permit are entitled to subsidized health care to asylum seekers. That means they should be able to get the care that includes dental care, prenatal care, care at abortion and health checks.

County councils have received additional contributions from the state to meet the need for the undocumented. But question being asked is who should pay for poor EU citizens who do not have health insurance in their home countries remain less clear.

"The usual homeless, we are used to managing," says Rolf Bystrom. "Even the undocumented, we have systems for but this new third group is a gray area. It is difficult to know which rules apply and I feel that many caregivers are uncertain."
by Scancomark.com Team