Backlog of applications for veterans benefits still greater than 11,500

Veterans Affairs is struggling to tame an enormous stockpile of disability benefits claims — approximately 11,544 — from ex-soldiers who are just entering the system, CBC News has learned.

Source/more:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veterans-benefits-backlog-1.3781470

WSIB slashes injured Pakenham paramedic's compensation

Dan O'Connor sits in his living room in Pakenham, Ont., trying to find the words to describe the excruciating pain that racks his body


He hardly needs to. His agony is plain to see.


O'Connor, 54, winces as he shifts his weight in the chair, trying in vain to find a comfortable position. The pain makes it difficult to sit for more than 15 minutes at a time, even with his legs elevated.

Source/more:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/wsib-injured-worker-paramedic-1.3779727

LAT hearings held in writing 'fundamental denial of justice'

“These people are not being given the opportunity to come before the tribunal and have their credibility assessed, have their doctors testify and have their lawyers cross-examine the insurance company’s doctors,” Singer tells AdvocateDaily.com. “Instead, it’s all done in writing.

Source/more:

http://www.advocatedaily.com/darryl-singer-lat-hearings-held-in-writing-fundamental-denial-of-justice.html

Van Galder v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company

[11] There is no issue that the respondent was seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident on January 20, 2004. She suffered significant physical injuries to both legs. Since the date of the accident, she has been unable to walk unaided and is now wheelchair-bound. Subsequent complications and surgeries that followed over the next several years resulted in the amputation of her lower right leg and left her with chronic pain.

[93] The appellant submits that the application judge’s order has the opposite effect: it “incentivizes” an insured person to delay his or her catastrophic application as long as possible in order to accrue tremendous amounts of interest in the interim. According to the appellant, this would also create difficulty for insurers in properly establishing reserves for claims files open beyond the 104 (or 260)-week period.

[94] These arguments were submitted to and rejected by the application judge. I also would not give effect to them.

[95] First and foremost, it defies common sense that a catastrophically impaired insured person would delay making an application that would open the door to desperately needed enhanced catastrophic benefits. I agree with the application judge’s observations in this regard:

A catastrophic injury is a serious one; catastrophically injured people require assistance to perform their activities of everyday living and to cover medical expenses. The nature of these expenses are such that they cannot be forgone by a victim or denied by an insurer, with the aim of accruing or avoiding costs.

[96] There is no question that the SABS requires an insured person to make the necessary applications and provide the required information to an insurer. However, these obligations must be understood in the context of a catastrophic impairment. The nature of many catastrophic impairments may necessarily render a catastrophically impaired insured person incapable of navigating and completing the complicated and detailed application process for a catastrophic impairment determination. As the application judge found, this is clearly what happened in the present case.

Source/more: 2016  ONCA 804 (CanLII), < http://canlii.ca/t/gvd47

Canadian Insurance News encrypted connection

All visitors are now able to view Canadian Insurance News over an encrypted connection by visiting https://cinsurancenews.blogspot.com.

Existing links and bookmarks to Canadian Insurance News will continue to work.

Administrator,
Canadian Insurance News

WANTED MEDICAL Professionals

Canadian Insurance News is conducting an investigation into the Minister of Employment and Social Development office in Chatham Ontario Canada.

Mostly we are looking for information that will lead to the procecution of the medical individules reposible for the backlog of appeals going to the Social Security tribunal of Canada.

Help us help disabled Canadians get what they paid for and make sure these pay-for-hire government doctors stop delaying, denying, and using wait for them to die tactics against legitimately disabled Canadians.

We can only fix the problems at the Social Development office in Chatham if we work together to expose these corrupt induviduals and set an example of just one of them.

Do you have a story that needs to be told? Contact us at canadianinsurancenews at g mail dot com.


Admin,
Canadian Insurance News
http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/

 

Holding on to disability benefits an unfair struggle

They say the character of a society is judged by how we treat the most vulnerable amongst us. Those who live with a disability, whether physical or mental, that restricts their ability to work to support themselves and their families fall squarely into this group. The purpose of the Ontario Disability Support Program is to provide income to these individuals so they can survive. It's not a lot of money, and the benefits are notoriously difficult to obtain, but it serves as a crucial lifeline for many people in this province.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/05/28/holding-on-to-disability-benefits-an-unfair-struggle.html