Conclusions
The results of this study confirm the GR’s observation of the assessment of ME patients by the UWV.
People with ME regularly experience that occupational physicians and insurance physicians insufficiently take into account the nature and gravity of their disabilities. A part of the insurance physicians believes that ME is not a disease or that ME can never result in more than mild limitations. UWV insurance physicians repeatedly make unrealistic assessments of possibilities for recovery, whether based on the incorrect expectation of CBT and GET or not. They also repeatedly put pressure on ME patients in different ways to choose CBT or GET as a treatment option. In contrast to the statement made by the UWV medical advisor, this practice is not aligned with the advice of the GR.
It is not possible to say with certainty how many insurance physicians and how many assessments the image that this research evokes is exactly applicable to. The 310 respondents who felt that the UWV did not fully take into account their limitations come from all over the Netherlands. This suggests that not all of the insurance physicians involved came from only one or a few UWV locations
