„Too ill for work, too healthy for disability pension.“: The experience of being refused a pension from the perspective of people with health issues

Abstract

At the beginning of the new millennium, the transformation of the welfare state in Switzerland according to the principles of activation also affected disability insurance. Far-reaching changes were implemented according to the motto „integration instead of pension“ and the access to disability grands was made more difficult. Due to this, the new disability pension rates have shrunk by half within 10 years. This article presents the results of a dissertation in which an interview study was used to investigate the effects of disability pension refusals on people with health issues. The analysis of 8 narrative-biographical interviews showed that pension refusals can be described as an experience of disregard that shakes trust in the welfare state and damages the identity of those affected.

Keywords

• disability insurance
• activating welfare state
• pension rejection
• biographical research
• user research