Response to interpellation 2022/23:11 on a secure health insurance
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns a secure sickness insurance and how it should be designed to meet economic challenges. M believes that everyone who can work should do so to create prosperity and counteract poverty 1. M argues that the sickness insurance should provide economic security to those who cannot work due to reduced work capacity 1. M wants those on sick leave to receive rehabilitation to return to work and that the policy should prevent long-term sick leaves 1. M is concerned about the rising sickness absence and wants to follow previous changes to ensure that they do not lead to unnecessarily long sick leaves 1.
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! I would, of course, like to begin by thanking the interpellor Åsa Eriksson for the interpellation she has submitted to me regarding a secure health insurance.
Åsa Eriksson has asked me if I share the experience of the content in the Tidö Agreement, that is, that the sickness insurance is secured long-term with the agreement, and if that therefore means that I do not intend to introduce cuts in the sickness insurance.
The government has taken over the responsibility for a country that finds itself in several parallel crises. One of these crises is the recession that Sweden faces at the same time as many people and companies are subjected to dramatic cost increases through high inflation and extreme energy and fuel prices. A fundamental prerequisite for meeting this challenge is that everyone who can be available to the labor market also does so and strives to get a job and become self-sufficient. Work, in fact, creates prosperity and counters individuals' poverty.
The sickness insurance shall provide financial security for those who cannot work due to reduced capacity for work. People who cannot work shall receive sickness benefit. Those on sick leave shall participate in rehabilitation in order to be able to return to work, and the policy must be designed to prevent and counteract long-term sick leaves and support the individual.
The government is concerned about the rising sickness absence - the current rate of increase in the sickness benefit rate is 6 percent. We will therefore closely monitor the previous government's recently implemented changes in the sickness insurance to ensure that the changes do not result in unnecessarily long sick leaves, but also that those who cannot work due to illness have financial security. Long-term sick leaves are harmful both for the person who is on sick leave and, in the long run, for society as a whole. Therefore, it is important to stimulate the drivers to return to work and to focus on strengthening the individual and the rehabilitation chain.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.