Welfare companies' tactics resemble the tobacco lobby's

Welfare companies in Sweden are employing tactics that mirror those of the tobacco industry, using legal challenges to undermine democratically made decisions, according to Emilia Bjuggren, a candidate for finance commissioner in Stockholm.

“

The tactic is clear: Decisions are appealed and municipalities are forced into costly processes. Municipal politicians must not be intimidated into silence – now the state must act.

Bjuggren, writing in Dagens Nyheter, asserts that these private welfare providers are primarily driven by profit and market expansion rather than a genuine commitment to education, healthcare, or elder care. This focus, she argues, has fueled public demand for reforms to curb profit-seeking in Sweden's welfare sector. The author contends that these corporations will resist any reforms aimed at addressing the negative consequences of privatization.

Drawing on her four years as Stockholm's school commissioner, Bjuggren recounts how welfare companies have systematically sued municipalities whenever decisions did not favor them. This strategy involves appealing decisions and forcing local authorities into costly legal battles. She points to the period of crisis in 2022-2023, when school costs surged, particularly for municipal schools due to more favorable pension agreements. To prevent teacher layoffs, Stockholm reduced overcompensation to private schools, ceasing to reimburse them for costs they did not incur, such as empty premises or fees for non-school sports facilities.

“

The interest is not primarily in contributing to education, healthcare, and elder care. The interest is instead in building the companies' value and expanding in a market.

In response, these school corporations sued Stockholm and other municipalities. Although Stockholm won a case against Academedia in administrative court in spring 2025, Bjuggren notes that court processes and the threat of litigation are systematically used by welfare companies. She cites that Stockholm's school funding was appealed seven times in three years. Similarly, after Stockholm streamlined private home care providers, it faced and won several legal disputes. Bjuggren likens these tactics to those identified by the World Health Organization regarding the tobacco industry: legal challenges, biased data, media manipulation, lobbying, and attempts to invalidate or circumvent legislation.

“

The tactic is recognizable. We know from World Health Organization WHO studies of the cigarette industry that reactions to democratic decisions or independent reviews often look like this: legal processes, their own biased figures, influence on media and the public, and lobbying against politicians.