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New state budget: new cuts. At least for some groups. Because while some get more, there are also some who get less in this year’s state budget. The proposed new budget states, among other things, that the government wants greater savings in so-called support for children’s shows in 2021.
A savings that was a huge fuss when it was cut in last year’s budget proposal.
“The new guidelines represent savings in 2021, estimated at NOK 192.8 million,” the budget indicates.
This means the state budget for your finances.
Emilie (11) is framed
– The government crushes the show of support for children and continues the cut. In 2021, less support will be given to children’s glasses. Plus, they have the guts to brag about it, despairs union leader of the Association of the Blind, Terje Andre Olsen.
– This means that very few children will have their glasses holder covered, Olsen tells Dagbladet.
One of them is Emilie (11) from Melhus. You don’t see anything without glasses or lenses, with glasses at -11.7.
– Without glasses you cannot participate in anything, you cannot do without. She is completely dependent on glasses to be able to participate in leisure activities or attend classes at school, Emilie’s mother Lill Belsvik tells Dagbladet.
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Expensive
Emilie was four years old when she was diagnosed with vision problems and until last year she received support for glasses and / or lenses.
– Emilie is in the growth phase, so her vision changes all the time. Therefore, she depends on getting new glasses at least once a year, says Mom Lill.
Since Emilie is very nearsighted, the costs associated with the right glasses are great, her mother says. She estimates that it is around 16,000 crowns a year.
– At an eye checkup last week, we were told that she no longer receives eyeglass support and that will have consequences for us, says Lill.
– I can’t afford to spend SEK 16,000 a year on glasses, so I have to lower the quality, which will of course have consequences for Emilie.
– horrible
The mother continues:
– Also, my daughter is an active child and the glasses can break, and I have no idea how I will be able to cover myself.
That the government now wants to cut even more spectacular support for children is horrible, he believes.
– It’s completely sick that I should go beyond children, says Lill.
– we are furious
He receives all the support of the union leader of the Association of the Blind, Terje Andre Olsen.
– This is very unfair, many parents now get completely unjustified additional costs, and if they cannot afford them, new government cuts could mean that children miss out on, for example, teaching, he says.
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– Who does this affect?
– Those affected are children older than ten years who still have a developing vision, so they have to change glasses or contact lenses regularly, something that is expensive and affects unevenly, says Olsen, who assures that the Association of Blind has received many reactions to the proposal for more cuts in this support.
– We are disappointed. We get angry and parents get angry with us, he says, adding:
– We believe that the government should have chosen the opposite path in this case, that all children should be reimbursed for the expenses of glasses, lenses and eye control. It should have been a matter of course.
Reduces support for allergies: – A weak group
– Create differences
Parliamentary Representative Elise Bjørnebekk-Waagen (Labor Party) believes the government could have seized the opportunity to correct what she calls the anti-social cut on children’s glasses.
– Instead, tax cuts are given to those who have more than before. The Labor Party was against the cut and believes that this creates differences between those who have parents who can pay and those who cannot, Bjørnebekk-Waagen tells Dagbladet.
– The consequences are clear and we see that large extra expenses are lightened for parents. We will continue to raise the issue. But here it seems that the government is not even ashamed of the consequences of its own policy, he adds.
– Distressing
Audun Lysbakken from SV also reacts to the cut of the glasses holder.
– It is heartbreaking that the government maintains a cut in support for shows that is even more antisocial than they thought when they introduced it in the 2020 budget, Lysbakken tells Dagbladet.
– That the government also insists on continuing with the blinders, and refuses to really investigate the consequences that this show cut has for families with children, shows that they do not want to see the people affected by the cuts they introduce. Now the government must listen to those who know how this cut turns out in support of children’s glasses, he continues.
More expensive trip to the doctor
While there will be further cuts in support for children’s glasses, it will be too costly for many to go to the doctor if the new state budget is adopted. The reason is the merger of the maximum deductible limit from two to one, and with it a change in the limit of the exemption card.
The change means higher deductible-related health expenses for around a million Norwegians.
– We want to facilitate the exemption card system for users and protect those who have the highest spending on health, says the Minister of Health and Care Services, Bent Høie, in the government press release.
What does not appear in the press release is that the simplification implies an additional expense of up to NOK 700 for many. At the same time, just under 200,000 people will save nearly NOK 1,500 a year under the new scheme.
