[Health and social insurance in Nordic countries].

Background: There is no previous comparative review available of Nordic social insurance schemes for sickness benefits, rehabilitation allowance and disability pensions.

Methods: Based on existing publications, a Nordic expert group in social insurance and insurance medicine has compared important aspects of the Nordic schemes.

Results: The Nordic sickness benefit schemes have many similarities, but differ considerably in degree of compensation, with 100% coverage of salary in Denmark and Norway and less coverage in the other three countries.