KENT HEHR: Working together for veterans

I don't know buds . ya he says 5% will not get financial compensation for economic loss . then he clearly states those guys will get a LUMP SUM witch is sort of the PA approach .

can you tell me what 5% LUMP SUM is in the pension act ???

propat

Here is a recent post from Army.ca, from a member of one of the advisory groups in regards to the proposed changes and return to life long pensions. some interesting reading.........


“Pension option Nothing confirmed yet. The policy group presented their suggestion, and it's essentially a blended model of the two systems. I will not do it justice, but I'll try to get the gist of it. Picture two columns- Pain and suffering, and economic loss. Pain and suffering, in their vision, would include both the existing lump sum, and would essentially bring back the Exceptional Incapacity Allowance, tax free, with easier access. There would also be an enhanced caregiver benefit probably analogous with the attendance allowance. Critical Injury Benefit would go away. On the economic loss side, ELB would continue to exist, but would be tax free like the old pension act payments. Income offset would be reduced to incentivize return to work. I believe ELB would continue past 65, and RISB would cease to exist.

There's more to it than that, but those are the broad strokes as best as I can recall. One critical element that they explicitly included was that formulas would be structured to ensure that any vet receiving benefits under such a new, blended system would make NO LESS than they would have under the strict pension act system. That would ensure nobody was worse off than they were before and would restore pension act equity. Note that these are recommendations from one of the advisory groups tasked to generate them, this is not a government position. It is intended to be achievable for budget 2017. It is not a simple restoration of a pension as it previously existed, but in terms of providing a stable monthly income for serious disability, the elements as I saw them presented combined to achieve that. Again, I'm not presenting it particularly well here because I don't have access to the slide deck used.”


http://army.ca/forums/index.php/topic,124086.25.html


Cheers

I would not worry to much of what is coming from Mark in terms of what he is saying on the video regarding proposals.

Mark is speaking on behalf of the advisory committee of which he is a part of, the advisory committee advises only, nothing that is proposed from the advisory committee is even close to being concrete, it is simply a group of Veterans that work within the advisory groups to come up with proposals to bring forward to our Minister. Each group has it's own set of agendas regarding the different proposals they work on to bring forward to our Minister, Lifelong pension, Mental health and so on.

What is important here is to understand that while the advisory groups are working on their proposals, the bureaucrats are also working on their own proposals.
Both the advisory groups and the bureaucrats will bring their own proposals to the Minister.
Now here is the kicker in all of this, who's do you think Kent will give the green light for implementation?
We all know full well the answer to this, however, like I have stated many times before, if by chance any proposal brought forward by the advisory groups, stakeholder summits and Veterans in general that reflect in some form any of the models that the bureaucrats have brought forward, this is what the Minister will use in saying that he acted on what Veterans or Veterans groups were asking for, or proposing.

So in my own opinion, these groups of advisories and the summits are being used by our government for PR.

Well they sure as hell can't make the ELB tax free and for life without doing it to LTD SISIP clients. If that get's passed I'll start the lawsuit myself!

I know they want to get rid of SISIP by 2025 and not giving the LTD vets the 15% seems to be an indicator.

But man making ELB for life? They better well push the LTD vets over to VAC.

I know some don't believe in the RISB but redo the math with the increase and tell me it isn't a good benefit. Not to mention if RISB disappears so does the ONLY widows benefit, 50% of the RISB. Unless they mimic the PA widows benefit then do it.....but first put the LTD vets under NVC.

But that damn description Hehr used on the opening of the summit "pension style option" is just not sitting right.

Like you said trooper good pr for whatever crap they come up with.

A pension style option. If that's KH or the GoC...

It's starting to sound like a fracking all you can eat buffet . . .

. . . not very tasty to me.

well teen not that it matters as its just a proposal IF that is in fact the proposal . the guy said ELB past 65 and RISB would cease to exist all in the same sentence as if the two went hand in hand .

and really under the old math and new no need for RISB if ELB is for life .

propat

But like I said propat no RISB no widows pension. So ELB past 65 kills both.

Need to remember the widows

ya teen even though the ELB for life puts a LOT more money in vets pockets than the RISB and on average a lot more than the RISB and its widow benefit could . see the RISB is still helping very few for very little yup the increase helped but not a hole pile and the widows benefit at 50% in my case 50% of frack all is still frack all. I would be upset to see it gone .

why ??? the survivors benefit for ELB although the initial number is much higher and the factor of what's payable being higher 60 or 100% actually hinges on what the vet died from . plus the fact some vets fall through the cracks even though on EELB not getting PIA sup CPPD and what not .

I would say stopping vets from falling through the cracks as the best solution but with the GOC coming up with newer more ingenious ways every day to make those cracks might I suggest eliminating the restriction on the ELB survivor amount as to manner of death.

but again we are just kinda chewin the fat here because even IF this is the proposal it aint gonna happen .

propat

Veterans who qualify for EELB or SISIP to 65 should automatically qualify for PIA and PIAS that way that crack in the system would be sealed.

Some veterans who experience severe mental health issues are incapable of understanding the complex benefits system or just don't have the mental fortitude to deal with it all, but they should still receive the benefits.

Well, Teen, as you well know, I've been against the RISB, as it is calculated, since the beginning. So even with the ELB increase, at best the RISB is only going to be a couple of hundred per month, versus a couple of thousand from ELB. So divide that by half for my wife, if something happens to me, and it wouldn't even be enough to pay a single bill in our economy these days. I'm lucky enough that I am primarily covered under the PA, so my wife will always get the $2000+, but a lot of widows won't be, and the RISB is not going to be their lifeline to a better life, because they will not be getting the CIA and CIAS and other benefits that will be used to reduce the RISB in the first place.

I know you have not liked the RISB Rex but we aren't looking at your situation we are looking at vets in the future.

Like you said cost of living is always going up so go 25 years down the road look at ELB at 90%, take the 70% for the RISB then 50% for widows. Well that's better then you might think because like you said your wife is covered under the PA. 25 years down the road is that guys wife going to be covered under the PA? Nope!

That's why if there is changes as proposed by the advisory groups one thing that has to stay or be created is a widows benefit like the PA widows benefit.

I was at the announcement of the RISB and the only thing I took away from that was the widows benefit. It bugged me from 2006 onward and I let every DM, ADM, Minister know that widows were being forgotten by the NVC.

Yeah it's not much but it was created. So once created it can be improved. That's always been the first point....get it on the books and it can be improved.

Financial security is key when it comes to the well being of all disabled Veterans, long term financial security, security for life.

None of this nonsense would even be taking place today if they wouldn't have replaced the old pension act with the new veterans charter.

In my opinion it is the NVC itself which is the driving point behind all of the mess surrounding us today.

The Equitas will not fix this, the government certainly will not fix this, and Veterans and Veterans groups will not fix this.

So it looks like the NVC is here to stay, bandage solutions is what were looking at, who are the winners here?
In my opinion it is the government and the bureaucrats who are the winners,
The government is using Veterans as PR in the way they run our file with these Veteran committees and summits, their not only winners, but their very smart to be able to get away with this.
The bureaucrats have it even better, they have created such a complex mess that the bigger the mess, the longer they will secure their futures securing them all for many years to come, and the mess is evident by what we have been dealing with and continue to deal with since enacting the NVC in 2006. Very smart indeed.

This is just my own opinion and I realize the opinions are mixed all around in this matter, so those that are satisfied with the NVC in general, all the power to you, as it does hold some good benefits, and everyone has the right to believe in it, I just happen to be one of those who does not believe in it.

They will be 'working together' for the next 20 years to 'fix it' (like one fixes a dog).
If they would improve anything then they would need to fire again half of those 'helping veterans' at VAC and other organizations.
Sorry for being so negative, but ...

Frankly, how in the hell can any of us NOT be negative to all the KH spin cserv.

There has definitely been a few minor recent improvements... but for Kent Hehr to false shine PR what hasn't even been accomplished yet is . . . can't find the word....wouldn't post it if I could lol.

Forgot about the " Working together with Veterans " speel,    WE help each other is better, real, and pretty quick sometimes.

jmo pinger.