Up to now, the Swedish health care system has been used as a model for comparisons with other developed nations, chiefly in Northern Europe and the United States. This article departs from the mainstream and poses that similarities along the political factor of corporatism warrant a comparative analysis between the Swedish and Mexican cases. The most widely accepted definitions and typologies of corporatism are reviewed. The arena of manpower policy is used to illustrate the effects of alternative modes of interest representation on health care organization. The final aim of this comparative exercise is to enrich the empirical basis required to build a theory about the complex determinants of health care systems. State corporatism has acted in Mexico largely unchecked by geographical interest representation, in contrast with Sweden where centralist and decentralist forces are more balanced. This finding helps to understand why Sweden and Mexico mark extreme points along the health equity continuum. The comparison underscores the need for Sweden to avoid the risk of weakening the equity basis of its health care system as it moves along its current reform. The importance of these transformations go beyond Sweden, since they will undoubtedly offer new models of thinking and acting for the rest of the world.