Ombudsman says veterans need to see their health records used in determining disability benefits decisions

2.5k a month is more than generous for a "part time" reservist. It was definitely a lot more than I ever made a month I ever made while working four-five Tuesdays a month plus the weekend ex.

I used to be a reservist before going regular force. I still can't get behind a reservist who gets injured while working their one Tuesday a month getting the same compensation as a regular force or a full time reservist just because they were injured during service. Especially when the ELB is not designed to be long-term. It is designed to provide income support while going through rehabilitation.

Improving the Earnings Loss Benefit for Part-time Reservists (OVO 2013 report)

The Earnings Loss Benefit provided to medically released part-time Reserve Force Veterans is based on 75 percent of a deemed salary (one standard amount) of $2,700 per month, while the benefit for full-time Reserve Force or Regular Force Veterans is based on 75 percent of their actual pre-release salary or a minimum salary of Corporal basic.

- gross injustice

This equates to an annual income support, before applicable offsets are deducted, of $24,300 for the part-time Reserve Force Veteran, regardless of rank, compared to a minimum annual income support of $41,600 for the full-time Veteran at the Corporal basic salary level.

- minimum compared to std

The difference between the two income support levels increases at higher rank and salary levels.

- diff bigger for me, I was a Captain.

In September 2011,

- not "fixed" until 2015

the Canadian Forces Chief of the Defence Staff communicated his vision for the Primary Reserve Force:

Reservists are key to the ability of the Canadian Forces to meet Canada’s security and defence needs; and

the contributions of part-time reservists to operations and to the connection with Canadians are important to the nation and to the communities in which they serve.

Considering the important role of all service personnel, all Veterans who sustain similar illnesses or injuries while serving their country should have access to the same benefits, regardless of the nature of their service and where and when they served.

This is a matter of fairness and is consistent with the equitable medical care provided by the Canadian Forces to every reservist whose injury or illness is related to service.

- Equity = fairness

It is also consistent with the recent Government decision (December 2012) to provide the same compensation

- Compensation = payment to reimburse for loss

to all Canadian Forces members who suffer a service-related accidental dismemberment, regardless of service component, sub-component or class of Reserve Force service.

The Earnings Loss Benefit provided to part-time Reserve Force Veterans whose injury or illness is related to service should be based on the same salary level as that used to calculate the benefit for full-time Reserve Force and Regular Force Veterans.

- sounds good so far but why not before 2015...

This will provide part-time Reserve Force Veterans with sufficient income to afford the basic necessities of life.

- welfare

This methodology should also apply to members of the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service and the Canadian Rangers who suffer service-related injuries or illnesses, because they too are members of the Canadian Forces.

It is simply inconsistent to provide injured or ill Veterans who served part-time in the Primary Reserve Force with the same rehabilitation services and vocational assistance as that provided to Veterans who served full-time in the Primary Reserve or Regular Forces, and then deny them the same income support benefit during the rehabilitation period.

- income support = welfare

It is also unfair to restrict eligibility to the Earnings Loss Benefit for members of the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service and the Canadian Rangers to a service-related injury or illness suffered only while on Class C terms of service.

It is extremely unlikely that Canadian Forces members in these Reserve Force sub-components will ever serve on Class C terms of service.

- it is also extremely unlikely they will get injured in service

Therefore, the restriction essentially has the same effect as stating that members of these two sub-components of the Reserve Force are not entitled to the Earnings Loss Benefit.

The number of part-time Reserve Force Veterans in receipt of the New Veterans Charter Earnings Loss Benefit and the SISIP Long Term Disability Plan income replacement benefit is very low—less than 30 per year.

This is in contrast to the approximately 8,000 New Veterans Charter and SISIP Long Term Disability Plan Veteran clients who are eligible to receive income support.

While the Canadian Forces does not track how many of these part-time Reserve Force Veterans were medically released for medical conditions related to service, it is reasonable to assume that some suffered a service-related injury or illness.

- not tracking?
- 75% of med rel = svc related

Therefore, the incremental cost of providing the same income support to part-time Reserve Force Veterans as that provided to full-time Reserve Force and Regular Force Veterans will be a small fraction of the total cost of the Veterans Affairs Canada and SISIP Financial Services income support programs.

- this mess is still alive though the OVO said it needed fixing. For SISIP vets like me.

I agree the OVO is limited in how he can help but he did help some an hears proof ;

http://www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/eng/about-us/success-stories#ss4

Plus they can only investigate items or things that came / started after 2006, anything before that, he can't look at

my issues I asked the OVO office well yup, got the We can't help you,
But can we get your permission to use your information for stats purpose
Personally found OVO office Useless

Yes, I must agree the OVO has pretty limited powers something equivalent to a neutered dog. Can't even get the simple of things taken care of like ID Cards for veterans. The few times I found the need to try and use the ombudsman office, totally struck out.

The OVO is only as good as the people that work there. I had an issue with pension adjustments after I got CPPD. After a year of dealing with the OVO I hired a chartered accountant to figure out all the crap that VAC had sent me. The OVO never was able to clearly explain why VAC calculations were so confusing. Turns out it was a poorly worded letter from VAC that confused everyone. The accountant worked on it for over a month. After several phone calls with the OVO they still could not figure out their calculations until he noticed two words that changed the whole meaning of a sentence. Turns out I had not been screwed by VAC. I was just tortured for a year thinking they owed me 6K when in fact the poorly written letter confused everyone and I wound up even. Many sleepless nights because some jerk off at VAC poorly worded a letter.

I second bigrex. I went through the OVO complaint process, which was absolutely useless. I had an agent brag about her secure government job, while I suffer fighting.

In my opinion, he knows that he has outlived his mandate, and would never stand a chance of getting reappointed once he did step aside. Harper knowingly extended Parent well beyond the maximum time limit, because his political alliances kept him from being very critical of the government while doing his job. Sure, he made a lot of good recommendations, but when the Government basically ignored them, he never followed through, or even congratulated the government for their half measures. it was like having a twenty year old doberman as a watchdog, after all his teeth have fallen out and he was forced to wear a shock collar to keep him from barking too loud. Sure he might look menacing to anyone on the outside looking in, but is utterly powerless to keep you from getting robbed blind.

Vo says he is staying put despite the liberals request to step aside article Cbc.ca

The MVA has to take a hard look at the decision process period !

The OVO's article may or may not set the wheels in motion for this....as it's been stated before...DVA is not likely to change unless ordered to change....until this actually takes place....it will not change.

Some more info. Keeping veterans in the dark.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2373283/feds-are-keeping-veterans-in-the-dark-on-disability-decisions-ombudsman-finds/

I can see why VAC would not provide the medical history/evidence used in their decision making........it is a scape goat for them.

Not everyone has a copy of their complete medical history so it is only fair to assume there could be much missing......hence the reason why many awards are undervalued/inaccurate and yep.......DENIED!!

VAC is notorious for looking for the bare minimum. If they truly cared, a follow-up phone call or letter informing the veteran/client what information they have (or have access to) to confirm they have current and accurate information to base a fair decision on.

But heck....who am I....they are so many more intelligent people working at VAC not too mention the rocket scientist at VRAB.

It is good the OVO sent that out to the media....thank you.

Riddick

Here is his latest report...............

http://ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/eng/reports/reports-reviews/followup-right-to-disclosure-reasons-for-decisions


and the Ottawa citizen article today...............

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/ombudsman-says-veterans-need-to-see-their-health-records-used-in-determining-disability-benefits-decisions





Cheers