[The public's expectations of the health services]

The challenge of finding ways of allocating public health resources is much debated. Many argue that the public should play a major role in deciding what services should be delivered and paid for. The aim of this study was to collect information on the public opinion on various health policy issues.

A representative sample of 1,342 Norwegians was interviewed in 1998 about their attitudes towards various health policy issues.

The results showed that Norwegians have great expectations of the national health services. The majority wants immediate access, free choice, and minimal out-of-pocket payments. Factor analysis yielded four latent variables in the response pattern: economic rationing, market-orientation, access and out-of-pockets payment. Women were less in favour of economic rationing, less market-oriented and wanted more influence than men. Free access to services grew more important by age. Politically conservative voters were most in favour of market-orientation.

To involve the public in priority issues is hard, as their expectations are extensive and contradicting. However, it is most important to involve them in order to establish the understanding that public health services cannot supply everything free of charge to everyone.