The significance of rehabilitation in social insurance system

Abstract

Social insurance constitutes a system of guaranteed by law and work related claim benefits, which provide people with social security in case of inability to work caused by sickness, its consequences, accidents in a workplace, or due to aging. In Poland a common social insurance is provided by the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) with a number of 14 366 100 insured in 2008. The number of people receiving disability pension was systematically rising until 1999. The resolution passed by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland on the 28th June 1996 defines a person unable to work as an individual that is either partly or completely deprived of the ability to work due to their disability, and is not expected to regain it after obtaining new qualifications. The resolution introduced a possibility for the beneficiaries of the Social Insurance Institution to be retrained, which resulted in medical and professional rehabilitation becoming a priority. The new regulation will allow to create conditions to fully regain the ability to work and fully function in the society. The latest data on the medical and demographic situation in Poland, as well as an increase in the cost of the disability pension (approximately 15% of the Poles receive it) indicate, that it is extremely necessary to introduce a complex system of rehabilitation. Since a significant number of the physically disadvantaged is in productive age, providing them with a proper rehabilitation would give them a chance to be active again. Therefore, it is essential for all the institutions that support the handicapped, to cooperate and create a National Rehabilitation Program.