(cont.) Response to interpellation 2023/24:568 on the regulatory framework for the specified professional group
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M believes that the purpose of the sickness insurance is to provide financial compensation in the event of illness and rehabilitation 1. It is important that the regulatory framework does not create lock-in effects and that incentives are found so that individuals can quickly return to work 1. M emphasizes that the investigation's proposals should be further analyzed through referral rounds before decisions are made 1. M argues that long sick leaves risk contributing to social exclusion and that early interventions from employers, the public sector, and the individual are important. S believes that everyone with the capacity to work should work and that the solution is early interventions and rehabilitation, not removing people's means of livelihood 2.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Madam Speaker! The purpose of the sickness insurance, as has been said, is to provide compensation for loss of income due to illness and rehabilitation. People should feel secure that there is a sickness insurance that provides financial compensation when they become ill and cannot work.
At the same time, it is important for the government that the regulatory framework does not contribute to various lock-in effects. It will therefore also be important to find incentives and the right support for individuals and other affected actors to quickly return to work again.
In recent years, sickness absences have thus become more frequent and longer. We need to know what the consequences of this development are and what potential proposals can improve the situation for those who are currently ill and do not have the same work capacity they previously had.
The investigator has now presented their analyses and conclusions. I received the investigation a few days ago. In it, the changes that have occurred in the health insurance during the recent years are analyzed. The investigator has also submitted a number of proposals based on the analysis results. It is a solid basis that has been presented and which both deserves and will be given time to be further analyzed.
The proposals will now be sent out for consultation, and it is then also important to receive wise comments and input from the various expert organizations that will now have the opportunity to respond to the proposals that have been put forward in the investigation. The question of which changes may eventually become relevant in the future is raised far too early. We have a good system in Sweden where well-elaborated investigations are followed up by consultation rounds so that we can obtain a basis for decisions that is as solid and good as possible. I do not intend to anticipate this important work by speaking today about isolated parts of the investigation's proposals. It is also important to point out that it is precisely the investigation's proposals, not the government's proposals.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Madam Speaker! I can understand that the Minister does not want to anticipate the preparatory work and the referral process, but my question to the Minister before we broke for the group meeting was whether there were any of the proposals from the commission that the Minister could already say she is not prepared to proceed with. The Minister probably has an opinion on what are good and less good changes to the sickness insurance.
We Social Democrats are clear: All people who have an ability to work shall work, and we shall do everything we can so that people who are ill can regain their ability to work as soon as possible. But our solution is not to take away people's livelihood. We do not believe that making people poor makes them healthier. Our solution is to implement measures, support, help, and rehabilitation early, so that one can become healthy and start working again.
Madam Speaker! We know that the party that the Minister represents, the Moderates, and the largest coalition partner in the government base, the Sweden Democrats, went to the election with completely different messages regarding the sickness insurance. I therefore suspect that it is negotiations and preparations with the Sweden Democrats that are the reason why the Minister does not want to give any announcements today. But if I am wrong, the Minister is welcome to correct me.
For all the people on sick leave who are now worried that the "make-work" jobs will be reintroduced and that they will be denied sickness allowance and be referred to Arbetsförmedlingen instead, I ask now for the last time today: Will the Minister contribute to changing the regulatory framework so that the "make-work" jobs are reintroduced?
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Åsa Eriksson, for this interpellation debate! I understand that many are curious and are following what is happening with the investigation into the sickness insurance in transition. I welcome this great interest because the issue of sick leave and the exclusion that is spreading is so important.
We know that long periods of sick leave and often also a sense of exclusion with poor health risk contributing to the path back to work becoming long. For that very reason, early interventions are particularly important.
There is a great responsibility from the employer's side, and there is a great responsibility from the public side when it comes to health and medical care and state agencies such as the Social Insurance Agency and the Public Employment Service, which are often involved in this. There is also a great responsibility from the individual's side. Here, it truly applies that as early as possible, and preferably even before a sick leave can become relevant, one can work preventatively.
Just as I have pointed out before, these are important issues. We have now received a large and substantial body of knowledge material. We will send out the questions for consultation. I truly look forward to statements from experts and from the many municipalities that will be given the opportunity to comment on the proposals. Overall, we shall then find solutions so that more people who are ill today will become healthy and that more will be able to regain their capacity for work.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.