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Increasing cost of personal care in Sweden beginning to cause fears in vulnerable people.

Wednesday, 02 January 2013
Spending on personal assistance continues to grow unchecked in Sweden and there is growing fear that in a few years, such cost would be expected to exceed Skr30 billion a year. This is causing great worries to people affected with disability in the country as the debate about recent discussion on cheating in the sector will result in increased scrutiny.

The Swedish government want to continue with streamlining and stripping more resources from the healthcare sector, a sector that has seen its resources reduced since the current coalition government took office and has been a point of criticism from the Social Democrats.

One pint to note is that personal assistance reform introduced in 1994 meant that many people with disabilities could avoid having to stay at the institutions for care. This means they could live in their own homes and be taken care of by care workers. But there has been talk of fraud in the sector and this could be blamed to the effects of the growing cost of personal care.
"There is a huge concern among user organizations that discussions now underway on fraud would restrict their rights," says Therese Karlberg of the Swedish Social Insurance organisation, Försäkringskassan to radio Sweden.

Therese Karlberg who is responsible for the assistance allowance in the organisation point out that of the money paid to disabled persons for personal assistance today, 16,000 disabled Swedes get such assistance.

Spending on personal assistance has increased substantially since the reform was introduced from Skr5 billion in 1998 to over Skr25 billion this year. And 2017, that is in five years it is expected that spending is to rise to over Skr32 billion, according to Therese Karlberg. Although she stress that they'll retain their assistance benefit even after age 65, a few high-profile fraud found in the assistance benefit that was revealed recently has meant that some disable persons are worried that it could lead to a discussion on streamlining the regulatory framework.
By Scancomark.com Team

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