Social insurance issues

Ulrika Heindorff (M)

Madam Speaker! Sweden must have a secure safety net for those who become ill or unemployed. This is a self-evident starting point for the Moderates. But just as important is that it must pay to work and that everyone who wants and can should be given that opportunity. Security, incentives, and support for returning to work are needed.

Today we are debating SfU13, a comprehensive motion report with 53 reservations. Let me start with something general, and thus it may become easier for those of you listening at home.

The social security system consists of three parts, namely residency-based benefits, work-based benefits, and other benefits. It is thus a broad palette of social security benefits. I will not have time to delve into all parts, but I will make three points.

Madam Speaker! I want to begin by highlighting all those relatives who care for a loved one. Do you know that one million people in Sweden care for a relative? In a report that came out a few years ago, it was stated that if one were to convert the family's, the relatives', care efforts into money, it would correspond to 200 billion kronor annually, which is twice as much as the municipal efforts. It is truly important to highlight all the work that relatives do every day, every hour, and every second.

To be a relative means that one cares for, helps, or supports in different ways. It can be an elderly person, someone with an illness, someone with mental ill-health, or a child with a disability. Since 2009, there has been a provision in the Social Services Act concerning support for relatives who care for someone. The Moderate-led government commissioned an inquiry in 2023 on how the support for relatives should be strengthened, and it is to be reported here this autumn.

The financial support one may be entitled to is called survivor's pension. The Swedish Pensions Agency has investigated how the survivor's pension functions. The review shows that most who apply for survivor's pension receive the compensation, but that the application process itself is complicated. It is pleasing that Försäkringskassan now states that they are in a development process to simplify the application process. During 2024, it will be possible with digital transmission of medical certificates, and that will of course facilitate things.

Madam Speaker! I would like to raise a question in the chamber where the political parties are in complete agreement – imagine that! The question concerns coordinated efforts, and I particularly want to highlight the coordination unions, also called Finsam. These include representatives from Arbetsförmedlingen, Försäkringskassan, municipalities and regions, and they work together with coordinated rehabilitation. People who need support from more than one authority to approach the labor market and their own livelihood receive help via Finsam.

In the spring, the center-right government made decisions on two government assignments that shall contribute to further developing the authorities' cooperation for people in need of coordinated rehabilitation measures. One of the assignments was a review of the so-called Finsamlagen. The review has been requested for several years by NNS, SKR and Arbetsförmedlingen, and now a long-awaited review of the law is being conducted.

It is clear in the research that further measures are needed to strengthen cooperation. Incentives for earlier coordination and support in the coordination are needed, and it also needs to become clearer who should have the responsibility for the support. Cooperation competence needs to be increased, and more impact assessments need to be carried out.

I may have used this quote before, but I will say what Pär Johansson, the founder of Glada Hudik, said during a parliamentary seminar: "I believe in a society that utilizes the power that exists in human beings. Everyone deserves their place."

I would like to conclude by saying a few words about mental health. As you here in the chamber and in the committee know, psychiatric diagnoses have constituted the most common reason for sick leave over the last ten years. To counter a development towards ever more long-term illnesses, the support for mental ill-health should be improved and the knowledge regarding sick leave due to mental ill-health should increase. As a researcher said at a seminar I attended a few weeks ago, we need more knowledge and less opinion when it comes to the sickness insurance.

The government takes the issue of mental ill-health very seriously. Among other things, a national strategy for mental health and suicide prevention has been developed, and a national coordinator has been appointed to strengthen society's ability to prevent suicide.

Forte and Försäkringskassan have established a research collaboration to develop competence and gain new knowledge about mental health in the workplace. It is welcome and much-needed research.

People who have been signed off from work need to be met with efforts from society to regain their ability to work. This applies in particular to the employer and also to the public sector, for example, health and medical care. We know that preventive work environment measures and increased equality are fundamental for a sustainable working life.

I believe that we all here in the chamber agree that the objective is a well-functioning sickness insurance that both creates security during illness and helps people back into work.

With that, I move for approval of the committee's proposal for a decision.

(Applause)

In this speech, Marie-Louise Hänel Sandström and Magnus Resare (both M) concurred.

(cont. § 11)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)