Career Impact Allowance (CIA) and the Career Impact Allowance Supplement (CIAS)

I applied for CIA twice in the past. Was approved my second time, but never got a cent, as I was dropped from Rehab. Just moved to B.C. and had a new case manager come out. She tools one look at me and put me on Reham, permanent disability and said she was putting in ELB tomorrow.

Question, since I was on CIA before, do I need to apply for it again? Or will it reactivate? I asked the case manager but she did not know.

ya bog bigrex is right weather you cancel it or not the fact that you were granted it means you qualify for it . since you qualify for it ya cant get the CIA or supp.

propat

Unfortunately, they wrote the legislation so that anyone who is EIA, or has ever recieved EIA in the past, is automatically excluded from the CIA. So even though you may no longer qualify for EIA, but would easily qualify for CIA, because you were medically released after 5 years and are DEC, you are still not allowed to apply. It's penny pinching BS, plain and simple.

So if the soldier that has EIA appeals to have his EIA cancelled and apply for CIA/CIAS knowingly that that soldier is above the 100%, actually at 116%

Would it be a good idea to use the appeal process to challenge?

For those that are keeping track. CIA is now at a 34+ week wait time.

Vet1234 to us yes its stupid . to them smart . its all part of the GOC,s war on vets . they just want to look good to the general public while at the same time fracking vets out of benefits . when they do this to other segments of the population the normal thing to do is a bit of a bait and switch . they give an amount in one hand and take about the same amount from the other . aside from some administration costs basically a no cost to low cost move . they do this ALL the time .

but for us they really go the extra mile . look back to 2006 . under the guise of doing something good for us they presided over the largest cuts to veterans benefits in the history of the free western world . these benefit cuts are not nearly as large as then but still sizable to us . so for us instead of giving 11-1200 to us in one hand and taking it from the other they actually want to profit by reducing our total benefits by 11-1200 .

eliminating the CIA s does this quite nicely .

ya the same as just eliminating the DA but this will give them nothing to spin witch is one of the two goals . ( reduce benefits and hold a positive spin )
plus it would be illegal and wouldn't stand up to a court challenge .

yup the same as only eliminating the CIAs BUT again no positive spin .

that's why we have what we have now.

propat

its just stupid. Someone with the exact same issues and DA % in 2019 will receive atleast 1200$ a month less than someone who was approved for CIA/S between 2007 and april 2019.

the lowest EIA ($492/mo) and the lowest APSC ($500/mo) will likely be the same once next years COLA is applied. But for those who are, or will be, getting CIAS, within the next year, are still going to be getting an extra $1100/mo over those just on EIA. I can understand not overlapping EIA and PIA/CIA payments, but the supplement should have been given to any severely disabled PA veterans, who would have otherwise qualified for the PIA/CIA, if not for the EIA, since the beginning. But now that CIAS is being sunsetted, there will be opportunity or political will, to expand CIAS to EIA, in the future.

With that being said, if one person is now receiving lowest EIA and another person is now receiving lowest CIA/CIAS..sounds like both will be the same after 2019....!!

??

The CIAS is being eliminated going forward. They have said that for those that get it before the change over, will not lose it, but it will not exist after 2019. Instead, they have said that for those that have been medically released, the IRB will be increased by 1% every year, until you either reach what would have been your 20th year, or age 60. The only problem is that it's unclear right now, if that means that it will increase the percentage of your pre-release pay, up to 100% of your military pay after 10 years, or if it means that it will be 1% of your actual IRB payment. If it's the latter, does that mean that IRB will no longer be subject to COLA? According to them, they haven't even written the legislation yet, which is why we have to wait until next year, so until we can read the legislation, everything is unknown, and subject to change.

Its know that the CIA will be changed over to a different benefit. Has anyone heard about what will happen to the CIAS?

Also, they needed ergonomic office furniture.

Tilap61,
Like many of us on here, we have heard all the excuses that VAC can throw at us!
1) not enough staff
2) hiring staff ( takes time to hire and train staff)
3) too many applications (not enough trained staff)
4) missing medical files (not enough file clerks)
5) trying to located missing files (not enough file clerks to help find
missing docs)
And the excuses go on and on!
If they told us the straight up truth, it might go like this....
"We are sorry for your wait but we here at VAC don't care about you! We care about us! We will make up any excuse to prolong your application process because we want Guaranteed workload! If we are too efficient, we might lose our jobs! So we have decided to work at a snails pace!" If you have any question or concerns, please message Us so we can tell you more BS!"

I hope you hear something very soon! This week was my 29th weeks so hopefully you'll get your decision by next week! These long waiting times are Bull Sh**!

Cheers,
By the Bay

Good for you but your CM excuse is bull. Bull coming from VAC nooooo. Mine will start its 30th weeks next Tuesday and it is certainly not due to bad writing from my doc since everything was typed. So the fact that they are behind I can understand but that they Carry on lying about the why is what frustrate me the most.anyway again good for you .

Hi Ya'll,
UPDATE:
I just received word from my Case Manager that I received a favorable decision on my CIA and CIA Supplement!

The excuse my CM gave me for the 29 week long waiting period was that VAC decision makers had a difficult time reading my doctor's report because his handwriting was not legible and hard to decipher! Next time, I will have to beg my doctor fill out the report on his computer! What Bullsh**!

I would like to thank the forum members for their wise wisdom, comments, and support! I think I would have given up on the whole crazy process without your guidance!
Cheers,
By the Bay