Illegal Aliens and Health (Care) Wants. The Cases of Sweden and the Netherlands

Sammanfattning: This thesis deals with illegal aliens in Sweden and the Netherlands with the main focus on health aspects. The three-fold aim is to investigate emergence of healthcare wants among illegal aliens, how they satisfy these wants (if they do so at all), and to explore the relation between their healthcare wants and health wants. Extensive fieldwork was conducted in both countries, including 42 interviews with illegal aliens in Sweden – and 38 in the Netherlands. In Sweden, except for a trivial exception, there are no state provisions on subsidized healthcare services to illegal aliens - while in the Netherlands, there is a state fund enabling a reimbursement for certain healthcare providers offering "medically necessary care" to this group. Subsidized care services are not restricted to a state. Activities of six private voluntary health-care initiatives (PVHIs) providing care to illegal aliens were also documented. Access to (subsidized) care actively promoted by the human rights framework (as operationalized by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Highest Attainable Standard of Health) and by the medical establishment, showed to be not necessarily sufficient in either addressing or satisfying health (care) wants of illegal aliens. More consistency is desired from different stakeholders working in this subject.