2600 PLN supplement per month. More people can receive support

Does it sound unfair? This is the problem raised by the latest petition submitted to the Sejm. Its authors appeal for the legislative restoration of the principle of equal treatment and for the supplement to also cover people receiving disability pensions and retirees who previously received such pensions.

The problem does not concern only one group of people. Those who receive disability pensions from ZUS or automatically retired from them upon reaching retirement age are also in a similar state of health. Their disability has not disappeared, the need for care has remained the same, and the standard of living - due to exclusion from the supplement - is often much worse.

The current regulations have introduced a distinction not based on health or needs, but on insurance history. This means that people in practically identical functional situations receive extremely different financial benefits. Such a distinction violates the constitutional principle of equality of citizens before the law and leads to the creation of a new category of the excluded.

The petition submitted to the Sejm calls for a change in the regulations so that every person who is completely incapable of working and living independently – regardless of the source of the benefit – can receive the same additional supplement . The authors of the petition emphasize that this is not about expanding privileges, but about restoring systemic justice in the spirit of the constitution.

The applicants expect the Sejm to take a legislative initiative that:

• will also grant a supplement to persons receiving a disability pension and
• retirees who were previously on such a pension and their health condition did not improve.

The authors point out that social pension and disability pension have a similar function – they are to compensate for the lack of earning capacity resulting from a permanent deterioration in health. People receiving sickness pension or retiring after such a pension have often paid contributions for years, met statutory requirements and also require constant support.

Additionally, in the case of a disability pension, a period of insurance coverage requirement must be met , which means that these individuals were actively participating in the social system before their health condition deprived them of this ability.

According to the petitioners, there is no rational justification for treating them worse than people covered by social pensions. The basis of this petition is the belief that the state cannot value suffering and disability by the date of onset of illness or the form of insurance . Equality in access to support should be unconditional where existential needs and basic human rights are at stake.

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