Pension for Life reply from VAC

Armygunner wrote:

johnny211 wrote:Hope Remberance Day was OK for all Brothers and Sisters out there. Being in Charlottetown, I always head to VAC HQ for free coffee after the Pde here. I had a chat with Walt. I asked him point blank, when we will see a PFL calculation letters. He replied that all letters will be out before end Dec. in case anyone was curious. Johnny Out..VVV

I had talked to VAC on 8 Nov 18 and asked about the PFL calculation letter. The VAC lady stated a letter was to have gone out end Septemeber but it was scrapped as it was not easy to understand and a new letter was in the works.

That’s kind of funny because I think that’s SOP with VAC in regards to making new policies so hard to understand that it confuses us to a point that we can’t even debate the changes because they (VAC) don’t even understand them either.

I can’t wait for version four!!!!  PA, NVC, PFL, all in a 14 year span.  What a crock of shit, a change of policies ever 4 to 5 years and a decrease in benefits every version.  I feel so sorry for the future VETs.  

Does anyone no the answer to this?   VAC is grandfathering NVC Vets benifits so we don’t  lose none of our income benefits, but are they calculating are past payment lump sum to offer us a choice April 1, 2019 to either continue our present income benefits or will they offer us the lump sum to ride off into the sunset and say adios?

johnny211 wrote:Hope Remberance Day was OK for all Brothers and Sisters out there. Being in Charlottetown, I always head to VAC HQ for free coffee after the Pde here. I had a chat with Walt. I asked him point blank, when we will see a PFL calculation letters. He replied that all letters will be out before end Dec. in case anyone was curious. Johnny Out..VVV

I had talked to VAC on 8 Nov 18 and asked about the PFL calculation letter. The VAC lady stated a letter was to have gone out end Septemeber but it was scrapped as it was not easy to understand and a new letter was in the works.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Hope Remberance Day was OK for all Brothers and Sisters out there. Being in Charlottetown, I always head to VAC HQ for free coffee after the Pde here. I had a chat with Walt. I asked him point blank, when we will see a PFL calculation letters. He replied that all letters will be out before end Dec. in case anyone was curious. Johnny Out..VVV

ATI (Access to Information), and the 10% interim payment used to be paid out pretty quickly, once the official diagnosis is made, as long as there is something in your service records that could explain PTSD. If all a Veteran did was Basic training, and then got hurt during their QL3 course, it would be hard to justify service related PTSD.

bigrex wrote:That is part of the reason why they started giving Veterans diagnosed with PTSD a 10% interim lump sum. instead of just paying it all out at once. They found that giving a Veteran the full award, while they were still deep into their sickness, they were not able to make wise choices with the money, and often ended up destitute. But they also couldn't just hold off on paying them anything until their condition was stabilized, because that could take years, and cause even more stress and anxiety, seriously crippling their healing process.  

Plus, since the final assessment is based on the documented symptoms, after rigorous treatment and medication, the disability award is most likely far less, than it would have been, if paid out before treatment. So there is a major cost cutting element to the PTSD payment system.

that 10% advance was probably what the vet was referring to, but the jury is out on how " quick" a vet receives it, after the obvious 16 week wait time.l am told its quicker than just waiting on a full payment of a physical injury, but l dont believe it

Teentitan wrote:Artie that isn't even worth the grain of salt.  

All one has to do is put in an ATI request of their file from VAC and look at the time stamp of each VAC department.  So do you know how many departments have to put a 'hold' on a disability application from a request from a CM?   Too many....

The adjudicators would be the hardest one to reach as CM's rarely call the adjudicators office because they are one of the sub-departments of VAC that is 'isolated' from the VAC chain of communications to prevent the very situation you are suggesting.  

So like I said VAC doesn't give a fiddlers fadoo what the vet does with their money because it is not VAC's responsibility once a decision and dollar amount is decided.  

sorry, what is an ATI request,?

That is part of the reason why they started giving Veterans diagnosed with PTSD a 10% interim lump sum. instead of just paying it all out at once. They found that giving a Veteran the full award, while they were still deep into their sickness, they were not able to make wise choices with the money, and often ended up destitute. But they also couldn't just hold off on paying them anything until their condition was stabilized, because that could take years, and cause even more stress and anxiety, seriously crippling their healing process.

Plus, since the final assessment is based on the documented symptoms, after rigorous treatment and medication, the disability award is most likely far less, than it would have been, if paid out before treatment. So there is a major cost cutting element to the PTSD payment system.

Artie that isn't even worth the grain of salt.

All one has to do is put in an ATI request of their file from VAC and look at the time stamp of each VAC department. So do you know how many departments have to put a 'hold' on a disability application from a request from a CM? Too many....

The adjudicators would be the hardest one to reach as CM's rarely call the adjudicators office because they are one of the sub-departments of VAC that is 'isolated' from the VAC chain of communications to prevent the very situation you are suggesting.

So like I said VAC doesn't give a fiddlers fadoo what the vet does with their money because it is not VAC's responsibility once a decision and dollar amount is decided.

I recently heard from another vet (,take it with a grain of salt)that he was told by his CM, that in the early stages of a vets recovery, VAC deliberately holds back disability lump sums til the last possible moment to try and insure a mentally injured vet is a stable as possible before they drop a bag of money into the hands of a “mad man”

Artie Pension For Life is that "life".  Not Pension For Limited Life.  And yes the program is looking at a 40 year old vet who could live into his 80's.  That's why the max monthly payout is only $1150.  VAC is using life insurance statistics to calculate monthly payments.  Which is absurd because insurance stats are basically calculated using "healthy" people for their calculations.

Once a vet reaches 50 and is faced with lump sum or monthly one should lean towards the lump sum.  At 50 the vet should know his/her financial status, health status and financial commitments (kids to college etc).

A vet who is in their 40's should lean towards monthly payment as it could be a mortgage payment, education payment for kids, or rent.  

The issue is always health when it comes to choosing lump or life.

Oh and VAC doesn't give a fiddlers fadoo if a vet blows a lump sum payment in less then 24 hours.  In their eyes they paid so they are absolved.  Even if the vet is 20 years old and suffering with severe PTSD and is in AA or NA and he/she chooses lump sum. As much as VAC likes to nickel and dime us to death they will never step in and control a vet's income from them. They have already been burned once by doing that in the late 90's and it cost them.

Armygunner wrote:PFL is coming into effect 1 April 2019. Either you are going to take the monthly amount till death or the lump sum and ride off into the sunset. Before this happen though, we vets will need to be given some sort of documentation from VAC explaining in detail what options we have; so we can make a choice between monthly or lump sum. This all has to happen before 1 April 2019.

I really can't see VAC waiting till the last moment to send us documentation. We will be required to inform VAC what we want to do with regarding the PFL. 2019 is an election year and you really don't want to piss us vets off even more.

The lump sum vs pfl, it’s great that the liberals appear to be offering a choice, however l would be interested to know if there is a disadvantage to taking the lump sum on a claim, other than the fear a vet will blow the money within the first month. I.e. suppose a vet were to be granted a disability claim that resulted in a choice of $120000, or a pfl. If a veteran opts for a pfl under this new April 1 2019 program, would vac take into account that a 40 year old vet might live til 80 and award him a monthly pay that will last him into his golden years, or just look at the $120000 and say here is a$1000 a month /$12000 a year, so that in 10 years when that vet is now 50, he is basically broke again...?

I agree, the changeover to PFL is far too important for the Liberals to take any chances, by leaving things to the last minute.

PFL is coming into effect 1 April 2019. Either you are going to take the monthly amount till death or the lump sum and ride off into the sunset. Before this happen though, we vets will need to be given some sort of documentation from VAC explaining in detail what options we have; so we can make a choice between monthly or lump sum. This all has to happen before 1 April 2019.

I really can't see VAC waiting till the last moment to send us documentation. We will be required to inform VAC what we want to do with regarding the PFL. 2019 is an election year and you really don't want to piss us vets off even more.

I asked my own question on PFL, and I feel the answer was the usual runaround.

Sent: UTC 2018-08-24 18:24
Dear Mr. lyonhart,

Thank you for using My VAC Account and our secure email services.

I am sorry for the delay. I have reviewed your file and can confirm
that although your MyVAC Account is showing your claim in step
1: Claims Preparation, your claim is now in step 2: Preparation
of Summary as we received your documents from the Department
of National Defense in April 2018. There is no indication that
we required any additional information at this time.

3:Your file remains in progress at this time and we are reviewing
all the information provided, however we are experiencing delays
due to the higher than normal volume of claims being received
at Veterans Affairs Canada.

Regarding the Pension for Life, at this time it is understood
that your claim will not fall under the PFL benefit directly,
as you have submitted your application prior to April 1, 2019.
When complete, your claim will be processed as a Disability Award,
and then recalculated under the Pension for Life to determine
if any additional monies should be paid out to you on a monthly
basis.

Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact
us again via My VAC Account or our toll-free number, 1-866-522-2122.

Sincerely,

Emily
National Contact Centre Network Analyst
Veterans Affairs Canada