Entitlement to Replacement of Assistive Devices such as Dentures, Glasses, and Orthopedic Insoles under the Disability Insurance

Facts

The case concerns the entitlement of an insured person to the replacement of assistive devices such as dentures, glasses, and orthopedic insoles under the disability insurance. The insured person, Mr. Triet, had filed a lawsuit against the Compensation Fund of the Graphic and Paper Processing Industry of Switzerland and the Insurance Court of the Canton of Bern.

The Federal Court had to decide whether the disability insurance is obligated to provide such assistive devices not only once, but as long as they are necessary to achieve or ensure the specific integration goal.

Considerations

The Federal Court upholds its consistent case law, according to which the assistive devices mentioned in Art. 21 para. 1 sentence 2 of the Disability Insurance Act, such as dentures, glasses, and orthopedic insoles, are to be provided or replaced as long as they necessarily and substantially complement the medical integration measure in order to achieve or ensure the specific integration goal.

The Federal Social Insurance Office (BSV) had argued that Art. 21 para. 1 sentence 2 of the Disability Insurance Act has an "exceptional character" and should therefore be interpreted "extremely restrictively". The Federal Court does not follow this argument. It makes it clear…