vac taking over sisip ltd

After talking to a very reliable source about this specific topic you raised Navrat...

Yes VAC since 2006 has been trying to push SISIP out the door so they can take over LTD with their ELB program BUT SISIP IS NOT BEING REPLACED BY VAC.

Until the Treasury Board changes the rules and 'revokes' the contract awarded to Manulife to provide SISIP benefits SISIP will continue to provide their services to released military personel for the CF.

What your VAC worker might have been talking about and possibly poorly explained to you is that SISIP 6 months prior to a members release starts the Vocational Rehab Plan. Wether it be school or medical/psycho-social rehab SISIP starts the process. When the member is finally released from the CF the members file is looked at by VAC and SISIP. If there is a need for some of VAC's benefits then SISIP will either blend the VAC benefits into the rehab training or hand the file over to VAC to take over the members Rehab training.

A very important piece of information that is not widely known is this. Lets say a CF member is on vacation in the tropics and a coconut falls out of a tree and hits the member on the head. The member now has a head injury and the CF says you are no longer medically fit for the CF so the member is given a medical category and the medical release process is started.

Well if VAC was in charge the member would NOT be eligible for ANY benefits (Rehab training or Lump Sum payment) because it was a Non-Service Attributable injury.

SISIP on the other hand only sees one thing...member is being medically released. The cause of the medical release is a non-factor. The only thing SISIP sees is the member is being medically released and it is time to provide the benefits the member paid for.

So all the member has to do is contact SISIP, (the CF does not inform SISIP about medical releases in most cases so it is up to the member to call SISIP to make sure SISIP is aware they are being medically released) give them access to their medical file then SISIP and the member will sit down and formulate a plan that is within the skill set of the member and medically makes sense (if member is released due to back injury training/schooling for a labour intensive construction worker does not make sense).

I hope this helps.

To me, this sounds like another attempt by the government to save money, since under Manulife SISIP, medically released members have been entitled to at least 2 years of LTD coverage, regardless if they go to school or sit home and recuperate. If they worked, whatever they made as salary was deducted by 50% from the LTD payment. But if VAC takes over SISIP, the criteria will likely eventually fall in line with the NVC's ELB, which is only paid out while the medically released member takes part in a rehab program, and once they return to work, the benefits stop completely.

Under these new rules, any Veteran who is borderline of being able to return to work, will think twice about the prospect. Because by finding employment, even casual or short term work, it cuts off all future financial support they could receive from Veterans Affairs, and possibly keep them out of the job market altogether. So legislation that was intended to promote a return to work, may actually have a negative impact, and keep Veterans at home out of fear that they become destitute in the future if they do otherwise.