The world famous 'Swedish welfare model' was characterized by public delivery and public funding of central welfare services such as healthcare, education and elderly care. Beginning in the 1990s, delivery of welfare started to be privatized on an ever larger scale. From the 2000s and onwards, we see a similar tendency in the field of funding. The most remarkable example is the rapid rise of private health insurance, which is now signed up to by a tenth of the adult population. This book explores the rise of semi-private welfare solutions that had led to a divided welfare state, between the old and 'visible' model and the new and 'hidden' welfare state.

Who benefits from privatized welfare? How are privatization of delivery and privatization of funding linked? How does this impact willingness to pay tax? Lapidus explores all these questions in this accessible book.