Weekly Briefing, Vol. 47. No. 3 (EE) January 2022
When you are planning for a normal year
Running a country is a difficult task by default. Planning for a given society’s development is even more difficult, because it is less general, more nuanced, and, in a liberal democracy, extremely political, impact wise. The process of forecasting for an upcoming year, usually, presumes that the year will be positively normal – at least, a responsible government should be wishing for that, certainly keeping in mind a range of prospective turbulence-generating factors and security concerns. For 2022, the Government of Estonia had loads of plans, having provided for many policy adjustments as well as totally new initiatives in the area of social development. Some of the main ones are as follows.
From 1 April 2022, a few changes on the parental benefit and child leave system were planned to be in legal force. For example, the maternity benefit (‘ema vanemahüvitis’) is to be paid by the Estonian National Social Insurance Board[1], while “an option to schedule child leave over a period of 14 years will become available”[2]. Another important change was made on a possibility to take up to two months of parental leave for the two parents at the same time – the idea was designed to be framed by the total duration of the payment factors when “the payment of parental benefit will be reduced proportionately by the number of days for which the parents received parental benefit at the same time”[3]. In this context, it is important to underline that, in Estonia, fathers have an entitlement for a particular benefit of 30-day longevity, and it “can be used up to 30 calendar days before the estimated date of birth of the child until the child attains three years of age”[4].
The next lot of policy adjustments are related to providing for more flexibility in the cluster of shared parental benefit – for example, when it comes to fathers, they are to enjoy “the right to use shared parental benefit from the time the child reaches 31 days of age”[5] (previously, they had to wait until the child reaches 71 days of age). This change is also interlinked with yet another opportunity for a parent who can claim parental benefit “by calendar days until the child attains 3 years of age”[6], being able to continue the employment and divide “the parental benefit over a longer period” (as an alternative, “both parents can take turns staying at home with the child”)[7].
In an attempt to deliver for a better health care across the whole society, the Estonian Government decided that the unemployed residents as well as those who receive subsistence benefit will be allowed to enjoy dental care benefits at an increased rate. For example, the country’s Health Insurance Fund will be reimbursing dental care to adults who have the health insurance up to EUR 40.00 per year (there is only a note that 50 per cent of the patient’s invoice will be covered by her/him); in addition, the dental care-related benefit is to be increased up to EUR 85.00 per year for a very broad societal segment, namely “pregnant women and mothers of children under one year of age, old age pensioners, persons receiving pension for incapacity for work, persons with partial or no work ability, persons over 63 years of age, and persons with increased need for dental care[8].
Arguably, the minimum wage factor is not only related to economics, but also makes a substantial difference in the context of social development. Back in December 2021, it was reported that there were 16,900 full-time employees who had been earning EUR 584.00 (the then minimum wage) during the first eight months of the year, “making up 3.4 per cent of the entire full-time employee number”[9]. In 2022, the minimum wage is planned to be topped up by EUR 70.00, so the figure will be rising to EUR 654.00, to prospectively add EUR 18 million to the country’s state budget[10].
Inevitably, such a development, with necessity, brings up another important question – on a prospect for pensions’ increases. Therefore, in 2022, old age pension and national pensions are planned to be increased, together with the payments for those pensioners who live alone. In plain digits, the situation will change from the April 2022 indexation when the ordinary pension will become EUR 591.00 per month (a EUR 38.00 increase), while the financial support of those who have no helpers beside them will rise from EUR 115.00 to EUR 200.00[11]. Forecasting for further steps, there was a prediction that, in 2023, the average pension in Estonia will be around EUR 654.00[12].
Finally, on the societal development, the country’s Government evidently managed to establish a very clear policy on the COVID-19 – by the end of 2021, the pandemic-associated actions and processes had become very well understood by the entire society. In other words, a particular routine became outlined for everybody to maintain, so the COVID-19 could be, if not eliminated at all, negatively affecting life in the minimal way. In details for 2022, the voluntary vaccination was opened to all residents in Estonia who would be 5 years old at least, with booster doses being available for adults only and some months after finishing the vaccination course (2 months for the Janssen vaccine and 3 months for AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna)[13]. All risk factors in the context of the pandemic (see Picture 1) were clarified for the population as well.
Picture 1
Source: Vaktsineeri
In 2021, as reported, all vaccination units and COVID-19 prevention stations in the Estonian capital city processed 207 560 doses of vaccine, but the following year was forecasted to be much less demanding in this respect, thus due to the lack of interest in vaccination, a very popular vaccination unit in Tallinn’s Freedom Square was to be closed by the end of March 2022[14]. At the same time, the country’s Ministry of Social Affairs started planning for the launch of vaccine insurance in Estonia. The idea is that the process will support a person who experiences “a rare but serious adverse reaction following vaccination”[15] for a period of at least 4 months. Initially, the insurance would cover the so-called SARS-CoV-2 vaccines “since the start of coronavirus vaccination in Estonia, while the system would apply to all other vaccines starting in 2023”[16]. Tanel Kiik (Centre), Minister of Health and Labour, who once noted that “vaccination is and will always be the best tool for combating the pandemic”[17], extensively spoke on the initiative:
The quality and safety of medicines used in Estonia is very high. Our aim is to give people certainty when deciding in favor of vaccination and support them in extremely rare cases where serious side-effects manifest. […] When we know we will not be left to our own devices, people will hopefully dare decide in favor of vaccination – it is important because vaccination saves lives.[18]
In January 2022, the Estonian society, objectively, started preparing for some sort of normality, for a year (almost) without the pandemic, for a more comfortable life when, for instance, your country can easily send 542,500 vaccine doses to Sub-Saharan Africa[19], for a routine that can allow a family to plan for having a time-off in summer. Not many wanted to believe that the news on unimaginable concentration of the Russian military on the Ukrainian borders could be leading to a global nightmare. Literally no one could predict that, by the middle of April 2022, nearly 30,000 war-time refugees from Ukraine will be added to different societal segments of Estonia, substantially ‘redeveloping’ the country’s societal composition.
[1] ‘Changes in health, work and family benefits in 2022’ in Ministry of Social Affairs, 13 January 2022. Available from [https://www.sm.ee/en/news/changes-health-work-and-family-benefits-2022].
[2] ‘Changes in the Family Benefits Act’ in Ministry of Social Affairs. Available from [https://sotsiaalkindlustusamet.ee/en/family-child-protection/changes-family-benefits-act].
[3] ‘Changes in health, work and family benefits in 2022’.
[4] ‘Paternity benefit and paternity leave’ in Ministry of Social Affairs. Available from [https://sotsiaalkindlustusamet.ee/en/family-child-protection/changes-family-benefits-act/paternity-benefit-and-paternity-leave].
[5] ‘Shared parental benefit’ in Ministry of Social Affairs. Available from [https://sotsiaalkindlustusamet.ee/en/family-child-protection/changes-family-benefits-act/shared-parental-benefit].
[6] ‘Changes in health, work and family benefits in 2022’.
[7] ‘Changes in health, work and family benefits in 2022’.
[8] ‘Dental Care’ in Eesti Haigekassa. Available from [https://haigekassa.ee/en/people/dental-care].
[9] ‘Government confirms €654 minimum wage’ in ERR, 9 December 2021. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1608430568/government-confirms-654-minimum-wage].
[10] ‘Changes in health, work and family benefits in 2022’ and ‘Government confirms €654 minimum wage’.
[11] ‘Government confirms €20 pension increase for 2023’ in ERR, 7 October 2021. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1608361905/government-confirms-20-pension-increase-for-2023].
[12] ‘Government confirms €20 pension increase for 2023’.
[13] ‘Everything you should know about the COVID-19 vaccination’ in Vaktsineeri. Available from [https://vaktsineeri.ee/en/].
[14] ‘Vaccination point in the city centre will be closed’ in Vaktsineeri. Available from [https://vaktsineeri.ee/en/news/vaccination-point-in-the-city-centre-will-be-closed/].
[15] ‘Changes in health, work and family benefits in 2022’.
[16] ‘Vaccine insurance debate could begin this year’ in ERR, 2 December 2021. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1608423353/vaccine-insurance-debate-could-begin-this-year].
[17] Tanel Kiik as cited in ‘Minister at EU meeting: Vaccination always best tool in combating pandemic’ in ERR, 8 December 2021. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1608429143/minister-at-eu-meeting-vaccination-always-best-tool-in-combating-pandemic].
[18] Tanel Kiik as cited in ‘Vaccine insurance debate could begin this year’.
[19] ‘142,500 vaccine doses sent by Estonia arrive in Uganda’ in ERR, 6 December 2021. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1608427529/142-500-vaccine-doses-sent-by-estonia-arrive-in-uganda].