Riksdag sets tougher limits for sick benefits

The Swedish parliament on Wednesday passed controversial new limits on sickness benefits designed to get more people back into the workforce.

• Labour market storm subsiding: job agency (9 Dec 09)
• Councils pay out billions to cash-strapped Swedes (30 Nov 09)
• Jobs agency tapped for greater integration role (26 Nov 09)

The measure, which passed by a 149-140 vote, means that people who have been on long-term sick leave for 914 days or whose time-limited sickness benefits have run out will be directed to participate in a three-month training course run by the National Public Employment Agency (Arbetsförmedlingen) in order to help them find a way back into the labour market.

No Riksdag members from the three main opposition parties voted in favour of the measure, which Social Democratic parliamentarian Veronica Palm referred to as the “chain of decompensation” when debate on the measure, more formally referred to as the last step in the chain of rehabilitation, began on Wednesday.

Palm charged that the government was promoting policies which took a tough and cynical line toward people suffering from long-term illnesses.

Around 15,000 people are expected to be affected by the changes, which come into effect on January 1st.

During debate on the bill, the opposition accused the government of stripping people of their insurance and associated compensation.

“Your policies are scary and worrying. People will commit suicide because of your policies,” charged Left Party Riksdag member LiseLotte Olsson during the debate, according to the TT news agency.

Eighteen months have passed since the Riksdag first decided to place limits for each link in the chain of Sweden’s welfare and benefits programmes, a move designed to bring as many people back into the workforce as possible.

Wednesday’s debate focused on the specifics of the final step of getting people off sickness benefits and into jobs.

Palm reminded her colleagues that at the time of the original debate, many Riksdag members warned of “dogmatic time limits”.

She brought up the fact that both the Swedish Associations of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) and Samhall, a state-owned company which provides jobs to people with disabilities, said the time limits were too unforgiving.

Palm provided her own explanation for why the government didn’t realize the changes would be problematic for people on long-term sick leave.

“It’s because they believed in the stereotype that people are prone to a little bit of cheating. But now it’s been shown that those who are on sick leave are in fact sick,” she said.

“Take a step back, think about it, do it again and do it right.”

Meanwhile, social insurance minister Cristina Husmark Pehrsson of the Moderate Party didn’t rule out other amendments to the health insurance system in addition to those proposed by the majority in the Riksdag’s health and welfare committee.

“We’re following developments carefully,” she said.

At the same time, however, Husmark Pehrsson asserted that the change was one necessary reform after decades of neglect, but that the question was difficult and complicated.

She reminded her colleagues that when the government took office in 2006, there were 770,000 Swedes on long-term sick leave or receiving benefits after being forced out of the workforce early due to illness or injury.

After a year, she continued, people forced to abandon their careers early against their will were then forgotten.

“We want to give everyone a second chance. We’re building a bridge between sickness benefits and the labour market; between the National Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) and Arbetsförmedlingen,” said Husmark Pehrsson.

“It’s not a bridge, it’s a slide,” countered Palm.