Suchergebnisse

The article addresses the impact of the principles of free movement of persons and services of the European Union on Finnish residence-based social security schemes. Three particular schemes are analysed: the minimum old-age pension scheme (national pension), income support and the healthcare system (both municipal health services and the social insurance-based system of reimbursement of the costs of private medical treatment). In regard to each scheme, it is asked: (1) how the legislation has changed during Finland's EU membership, (2) whether the changes reflect broader changes in values, and (3) what the practical consequences of the changes have been, for instance on migration or cross-border mobility? The analysis shows that the eventual impact of EU law on these three residence-based schemes has been relatively insignificant. Perhaps the most significant change has been the transformation of the national pension into a pro-rata scheme. In other respects, many changes in the schemes have been induced by internal political and economic factors rather than by external requirements resulting from EU law. Thus there seems to exist, at least for the present, a balance between Finnish residence-based social security and the principles of free movement in the EU.

AbstractIn October 2011, a new Act on Private Social Care Services came into force in Finland. The Act included a provision on a 'self‐monitoring plan'. According to the provision, providers of private social care services are required to draw up a self‐monitoring plan and to follow its realization. The plan must be kept publicly on view so that clients and their relatives can also keep an eye on the realization of self‐monitoring. In this article, self‐monitoring is first explained and then briefly analyzed against the background of a wider theoretical discussion on accountability. It is argued that the introduction of client involvement in the supervision of private social care services represents a new mechanism of accountability that is typical of the Post‐Keynesian welfare state. Because public authorities are no longer able to supervise the growing number of private social care service providers, the responsibility has been partly shifted to service providers themselves as well as to clients. However, it is argued that the idea of self‐monitoring lends itself poorly to 'delegated' private social care services, i.e. to services that are outsourced to private service suppliers. Supervision of private social care service providers should not be too eagerly delegated to service providers themselves, or to clients, because we are here dealing with the constitutional right to adequate social care services. Client involvement also involves numerous practical problems, as shown at the end of the article.

"This book addresses a topic that is currently high on the agenda in many fora: how to specify and secure a social minimum? The term 'social minimum' has different meanings, depending on the context. These contexts are examined in this book from different perspectives, including law, sociology, philosophy, politics and economics. In the first part, the social minimum is discussed from a conceptual and theoretical point of view. The second part shows the various ways in which the social minimum can be specified and measured. There is a need for new indicators that take into account, for instance, aspects of adequate social participation. As this part shows, the choice of indicators is closely intertwined with political choices. The third part approaches the social minimum from the perspective of legal obligations, addressing the nature of different obligations imposed on individuals and states. The fourth part deals with the question of social minimum in the context of courts, adjudication and justiciability. The role of international treaties and national constitutions - the interpretation of the rights they enshrine and the way these are dealt with by expert committees and courts - is discussed with a view to understanding how the guarantee of a social minimum can be promoted within individual countries. Besides being of interest for academics in fields ranging from legal theory and human rights to the social sciences, the book also serves as an important source for students as well as practitioners interested in the social minimum, and anyone who wants to gain an insight into the current debates on this extremely important issue"--