Personal budget is getting tighter: “Perverse growth took place”

People with a personal budget (pgb) are increasingly unable to make a living financially as the rate of self-employment in the care sector has risen sharply. That’s how Per Saldo, an association for people with a personal budget, sees it. In the first months of this year, the association received more than 250 reports of excessive costs that PGBs did not meet.

Around 120,000 Dutch people have a personal budget (pgb), which is used to buy their own care or household assistance.

disproportionate growth

The problem arises, for example, in Nynke Koelma. He has progressive muscle disease and needs help washing and dressing. He sees “a kind of one-sided growth” in the fees that insurance companies pay and nurses charge for care.

He spoke recently with a very experienced nurse who wouldn’t work for Koelma because of the price difference. “It was 10 euros more per hour than my insurance reimbursed.” Koelma receives 35 euros per hour for a care service. “Then he said he wouldn’t do it for that amount. It was such a pity.”

Sarike also needs help taking care of Zoeten’s son, Bram. It felt like some self-employed caregivers now chose this activity mainly because of the increasing rates. “Caring for a kid is really different from caring for a kid like Bram.”

Per Saldo director Aline Molenaar sees sad cases. She gives the example of a man who had to sit in a wheelchair because there was no one to put him to bed at night.

Self-employed people are urgently needed to move teams due to large gaps in appointments in the healthcare sector. And therefore, hiring a new assistant is very expensive in some cases.

If you have a personal budget, you should already be paying the minimum wage to a healthcare provider. The maximum amount a professional can earn per hour or part of the day is determined by the municipality or health insurance company. For example, if a self-employed person’s wage is higher than this maximum, the client will have to pay the additional fee.

Have prices dropped or refunds increased?

SoloPartners is an industry organization for self-employed healthcare professionals. The industry acknowledges that personal budgets lag behind rates through wmo and zvw. A spokesperson for the organization explains that the tariffs are different because, according to him, both the health system and the market are not working properly.

“But is it because self-employment rates are too high or because budgets are based on very low rates? .

Per Saldo’s Aline Molenaar sees that professional care providers sometimes settle for less: “You have very loyal self-employed people who have been working for a budget holder for years. They find the job so important that they take the ratio they have into account.” But we also know many self-employed people who get paid well above what the budget owner is paid to buy care.”

To guarantee

Budget owner Nynke Koelma looks to the future with apprehension as she will need more help as her muscle disease progresses. “I don’t know if I can find the right people for this,” she says. “I don’t know what the solution will be either. Should the self-employed lower their tariffs or does the insurance company have to pay more? Who is next?”

Helder, Minister for Care and Sports, refers to the Health Insurance Act and the Care Act, which set the maximum rates that insurance companies are allowed to reimburse. He says his ministry has no control over what self-employed people want for care and support. The ministry, in collaboration with municipalities and Per Saldo, is working on a guideline for calculating reasonable personal budget ratios that municipalities use to set their personal budgets.

In any case, this is not enough and it wants the directives for municipalities to be translated into obligations that should also apply to health insurance companies, which also set personal budgets. “Only if the same flat rates apply to all maximum payback budget laws can the landlord’s negotiating position be improved vis-à-vis the self-employed,” says Per Saldo Director Molenaar.

Source: NOS

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