If you as a student become sick, it takes a whole month before you can get economic compensation. Nor is there a possibility for part-time sick leave, and if you don’t receive study grant from CSN (Centrala Studiestödsnämnden), you risk being completely uninsured if you become sick. The problem is now given attention.
Everyone gets sick once in a while. But if you as a student should get sick for a period, and no longer would be able to cope with a full-time occupation, you do not have the same rights as people in the work life. You have 30 days of qualifying period instead of only one day, and you cannot be part-time sick. The deficiencies in the system can lead to that you as a student not only risk getting problems with your means of living when you get sick, but also that you get difficulties when rehabilitated back to studies after a notification of illness.
“All students risk being confronted with this problem,” says Erik Pedersen, Vice President at the Swedish National Union of Students, Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer, SFS. SFS recently released a report together with the Students’ Health Centres in Sweden, where they describe the problem. 95 percent of all Students’ Health Centres recognize it as a problem that to be on part-time sick leave is impossible for students. Because of that, students that due to illness can’t study full-time must choose to continue studying. The alternative is to be on sick leave the entire semester, in order to support themselves by study allowances or sickness benefit.
The Student Health Centre is critical
At Studenthälsan, the Student Health Centre in Lund, the problem is very much present. A full-time notification of illness may in some cases have a negative influence on the student’s health. This contributes to the Student Health Centre being restrictive to issuing notifications of illness.
“It can reach a point that becomes destructive to the student, for example regarding depression. It’s good to be out and about and to have a structure,” explains Hans Alnemark at the Student Health Centre in Lund. Richard Wastenson is a psychiatrist at the Student Health Centre, and he also considers it serious that the students’ possibility for sick leave is restricted.
“Sometimes it’s impossible to run on full speed constantly. Within every other work category there is the possibility to give you part-time sick leave. That the students don’t have the same possibility is completely out of time. We try to make people come back to their normal life, but that presupposes that you keep contact with your work or education. In this case you are forced to choose,” he says.
Sees no near solution
The politicians in the Parliament Social Security Investigation are responsible to attend to the problem. There are representatives from every party of the parliament in the investigation group. Patrik Björck belongs to the Social Democrats and is a member of parliament, and is part of the investigation. He doesn’t believe they will reach a solution to the problem.
“I believe there is a common opinion that it is important to solve the situation with a health insurance for students. There is no political conflict about it, but exactly how it is to be accomplished is not easy come up with,” Patrik Björck says. Even though most people involved seem to agree that it is a major problem, the solution seems to be far away. Politicians have investigated the question since 2010, but instead of presenting a proposal this year, their task has been prolonged until 2015. According to Patrik Björck, the prolonging only threatens to complicate the decision-making process.
“I believe it has had a delaying impact, instead of forcing forward a solution or an admittance of the lack of a shared view. Furthermore, we are now facing an election, and in the election campaign we will see the parties form their own politics, which makes it even harder to find a shared political view of the question,” Patrik Björck says.
Face moral dilemmas
Election year or not. Erik Pedersen, Vice President of SFS, believes that the problem exists because the system has not been thought out from the beginning.
“It looks this way at the moment because the politicians have chosen to find solutions for the students from time to time. It has become a patchwork where they haven’t tried to include the students in the system, but instead thought they should have their own separate track. It is complicated and unclear,” Erik Pedersen says. Richard Wastenson is critical towards the fact that he sometimes feel tempted to encourage affected students to find a way around the system.
“It is a moral dilemma for me as a government official to want to stir students up to get around the law. For example by giving advice on how they should answer when Försäkringskassan is calling. The system has serious deficiencies,” Richard Wastenson says. “Why do you think that the health insurance is not reformed yet?”
“Presumably, politicians are afraid that it would be misused. Students will get a notification of illness and then “study secretly.” But you don’t build a social security net because it will be misused,” Richard Wastenson says.
Collects stories
SFS has been in contact with the responsible politicians and demands that the system be changed, and that there will be seven days of qualifying period instead of the present situation. SFS is right now shedding light on the question in the campaign #heltsjukt. The next step is to collect stories from students that have suffered from the problems of the system.
“We wish to give the stories to the politicians in order for them to see what consequences they cause when they postpone the question,” Erik Pedersen says.
Text: Lisa Blidnert & Viktor Drangnell Ek
Translation: Charlotte Fransson
