– Nooooo, come here! The game goes to Gjøvik. Noah (3) and Benjamin (9) want to get hold of the same ball. Without glasses, they would sometimes have trouble receiving or kicking it. Those souls. They also have crooked corneas. His brother Elias Nathaniel (17) also needs glasses. – We have annual expenses for glasses of approx. NOK 20,000 for the guys, right now the support is NOK 0. It simply feels difficult, says his father Thomas Lunde Paulsen. Families struggle Many families are now fed up with the spectacle support. They believe it is difficult to understand since there are three different schemes. And hard to get. In several groups on Facebook and elsewhere, the frustration is great. In the proposal for the state budget for next year, 80 million is calculated for spectacle support. It should actually be about 220 million. – It is shocking. I am surprised that it is going that way, it should have gone the other way, says Lunde Paulsen to news. Will not pay In addition, there will be a fight with Nav about how the money is to be paid out. For four years, the family has received support for glasses subscriptions. An arrangement where, in principle, the family rents the glasses from the optician chain and gets new ones when they need to be replaced. – We and many others have glasses subscriptions for the children. It provides a cheaper and smart solution with active children where glasses and glasses are quickly destroyed. Often three pairs of glasses are needed each year, also because the vision changes. They can be replaced within the subscription. But now we no longer get support from Nav for glasses subscriptions, says Lunde Paulsen. He says that it would be more expensive to apply for support for each individual pair of glasses – than to pay for the subscription they have today. – The support did not come and then I had to call Nav and ask. They said that support for spectacle subscriptions had been stopped and that it was for political consideration, he continues. The pictures with and without glasses have been made in consultation with the family to give an impression of the children’s vision. Photo: Torstein Georg Bøe / news Glasses support Children under 18 who need glasses can get a subsidy for glasses from Nav. The subsidy is given at fixed rates based on the strength of the glasses. The subsidy is deducted from the optician’s bill when the glasses are to be paid for. Many people with moderately impaired vision receive a rate of NOK 1 – 770 a year. You can only receive support for one pair of glasses per year. There are three schemes for children who need glasses: General glasses support Glasses for the treatment or prevention of amblyopia Glasses and contact lenses for the visually impaired Source: Nav Not the agreement Glasses support has a bumpy political history. The scheme was cut under Erna Solberg. The red-greens – including current Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre – emphasized that support had to be increased. In the budget settlement last year, SV received that it should be increased to around NOK 220 million. Now SV claims that the Ap/Sp government has broken the agreement. – It is likely that less than half of the 220 million will be paid out because the criteria are set too strictly. This was not what we agreed on, says SV’s Freddy André Øvstegård, leader of the labor and social affairs committee at the Storting. The pictures with and without glasses have been made in consultation with the family to give an impression of the vision of the children. Photo: Torstein Georg Bøe / news – People must apply. Minister of Labor and Inclusion Tonje Brenna is responsible for Nav and the glasses support. – The support has not been reduced, it stands by and everyone who applies will receive support. This is a scheme that does not run out, so the figure in the state budget is really completely uninteresting. I really hope that more people apply, so that people who need it get the support, says Brenna to news. But SV does not agree and thinks Brenna has not understood the problem. – The government has made it too difficult to apply and set the rates too low. They could lower the deductible, for example, says Øvstegård. He also believes that spectacle subscriptions must be considered for support. The government in the process of evaluation Brenna says this about the spectacle subscriptions. – It is true that the glasses support does not cover subscriptions. Subscriptions mean that you rent glasses from an optician’s shop, and this often covers eye examinations, insurance and other expenses than the glasses themselves. She nevertheless allows for subscriptions to be covered after an evaluation. – We are now in the process of evaluating the three schemes, which also involves how the spectacle support can be improved. If there is a need for adjustments, we will of course consider making them. The question of subscription is a natural one to look at, says Brenna to news. A black streak In Gjøvik, Benjamin (9) reads a book. – What do you see of the text in the book without the glasses on? – Just a black line over there, says Benjamin. The father hopes for a clarification. Tonje Brenna’s ministry informs news that the evaluation of the glasses support “should be ready before the summer of 2024”. – We are prioritizing hard and getting through this right now. But I feel sorry for those who, for example, are single parents and have to pay for glasses for several children, says Thomas Lunde Paulsen. Thomas Lunde Paulsen is the father of three visually impaired sons. Photo: Torstein Georg Bøe / news
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Shocked by cut in glasses support – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
