Problems persist with half of social care claims

About 50 percent of all claims on personal budget social care policies still have problems, according to a sample survey at social insurance bank SVB, which is responsible for paying these claims. Most of these problems do not involve misappropriation funds, but administrative errors such as a missing signature, a spokesperson for the SVB said to the Telegraaf. The personal budget system allows chronically ill and disabled people to have more control over their care by arranging treatments and medications for themselves. The SVB took over the responsibility of paying personal budget claims in 2015. This resulted in a rain of complaints, with many late payments and some not paid at all. Problems with the system led to responsible State Secretary Martin van Rijn of Public Health barely surviving parliamentary debates on the matter. He himself acknowledged that the introduction of the system did not go well and that there may be problems with it until late in 2016. The VVD now wants another parliamentary debate on the matter. "The Secretary of State told these people that their problems will be solved and also promised that those who commit fraud and abuse health care money will be identified. It is high time that the State Secretary ensures that." VVD parliamentarian Sjoerd Potters said to the newspaper.