Six bills in the social area, presented by the opposition to improve care for citizens with disabilities and the elderly, were rejected this Friday in the Assembly of the Republic.
The PSD parliamentary group intended to modify a decree law (126-A/2017) to allow citizens with disabilities would not be harmed in obtaining social support for delays in making medical appointments and in obtaining the Multipurpose Disability Medical Certificate. The proposal provided that the beneficiaries could start receiving the inclusion subsidy from the moment they applied for it.
According to the PSD, the term to access a medical board is 60 days, but the waiting time is much longer, being able to exceed three years, which leaves the lives of vulnerable people “on hold”, as the congresswoman stressed. Carla Madureira.
The PCP also proposed modifications to the diploma in question, to “Improve access conditions” of people with disabilities to the social benefit for inclusion and change the moment from which payment is due to applicants.
“In the cases in which the holder submits proof of the request for disability certification, the benefit is payable from the month of said request, although the approval depends on the presentation of the original Multi-purpose Disability Medical Certificate,” defended the communists. in the text presented and defended by Deputy Manuel Loff.
The PAN also followed this theme with a bill aimed at guaranteeing access to social benefits for social inclusion”in cases of delay in notification of assistance to the medical board”, the delay is not the responsibility of the users.
The party presented another legislative initiative so that the periodic updates of the reference value of the solidarity supplement for the elderly “can never have a value below the poverty line.”
Deputy Inês Sousa Real cited data from a study released this week, according to which 1.9 million people live in poverty, a figure that would reach almost half of the Portuguese population, without existing social support.
The purged of the Bloco de Esquerda Isabel Pires defended a bill to expand the protection granted by social security to inclusion.
“The recognition of the right to the benefit may include, exceptionally, Holders of a degree of disability of less than 60%who are in a particularly serious situation of disability and/or dependency accredited by an opinion of the INR” (National Rehabilitation Institute), proposed the deputies of the BE, for whom a matter of justice is at stake.
Livre took to the plenary session a bill to “introduce justice into the system”, by including the possibility of accumulating the social benefit with the old-age social pension.
Deputy Rui Tavares also exemplified that a child born with a disability should receive support from birth and expressed his support for the legislative initiatives presented by other parties.
The Liberal Initiative, through Carla Castro, maintained that the payment must be made retroactive, given the delays exposed.
Chega, through the voice of the deputy Bruno Nunes, focused on the issue of delays to question whether the former director of TAP Alexandra Reis has already returned any amount related to the million-dollar compensation she received (500,000 euros) when she left the company, in circumstances that are still being investigated and that have already motivated their parliamentary hearing.
The PS claimed the social benefits created by socialist governments reject the proposals of the opposition parties.
“The Government intends to achieve, at the end of the legislature, that the value of the solidarity supplement for the elderly reaches the subsistence reference equal to or greater than the poverty line,” declared the socialist parliamentarian Cristina Sousa.
“In line with this objective, the Government has updated the reference value of the solidarity supplement for the elderly with a increase of 600 euros in the year“he added.
The PSD project, rejected by the PS, had the favorable votes of Chega, Iniciativa Liberal, the PCP, the BE, the Livre and the PAN.
The PCP initiative received favorable votes from Chega, BE, PAN and Livre. The PS voted against and the PSD and IL abstained.
The PAN projects were rejected. The initiative relating to the solidarity supplement for the elderly obtained votes against PS and PSD and in favor of Chega, IL, BE, PCP and Livre, while the other (social benefit for inclusion) obtained votes in favor of PSD, Chega, IL, PCP, BE and Livre. The PS voted against.
The BE bill was defeated with PS and PSD voting against. The PCP, PAN and Livre voted in favor and Chega and Iniciativa Liberal abstained.
The Livre diploma project was voted favorably by the PCP, the BE and the PAN. The PS voted against. PSD, Chega and IL abstained.
Source: Observadora
