Backgrounder

New Health Regulations Assist Wartime Civilians and Present-day Canadian Forces Members

Originally approved in 1990, the Veterans Health Care Regulations (VHCR) authorize and define health care programs for veterans. They provide treatment and supplementary benefits; home-based care under the Veterans Independence Program; and long-term institutional care. These regulatory amendments will improve equity of access to VAC programs and better meet the needs of our clients.

The amendments, which are effective from August 28, 2001, include many important and long-awaited initiatives, including:

• Extending the Veterans Independence Program (VIP) to income-qualified civilian groups who served overseas in wartime;
• Extending VIP to CF members for their pensioned conditions;
• Providing seriously disabled wartime veterans and civilians health care for pensioned and non-pensioned conditions;
• Extending community-based chronic care to CF clients for their pensioned conditions and Canada Service Veterans (CSV);
• Ensuring uninterrupted eligibility of health care for income-qualified clients and CSVs;
• Extending equal benefits and obligations for all common-law partners; and
• a number of other technical changes.

Overseas Service Civilian Groups

Access to health care programs for civilian groups who served overseas in wartime -- Newfoundland Foresters, Ferry Command, Overseas Fire Fighters, Overseas Welfare Workers (Canadian Red Cross, etc.) — is being improved by extending the Veterans Independence Program to those whose income is below the maximum level set out in legislation.

(See Backgrounder for further description of Overseas service civilians)

Members of the Canadian Forces

This initiative, which began last year with the enactment of Bill C-41, is designed to improve equity of access to VAC programs for Canadian Forces personnel regardless of where they have served. With these changes to the VHCRs, current & former members of the Canadian Forces pensioned for injuries will be provided access to Veterans Independence Program services if their pensioned condition impairs their ability to maintain an independent lifestyle.

However, while they are still-serving with the Canadian Forces, their treatment benefits will be provided by DND.

Seriously Disabled Pensioners

As clients age, their medical conditions are likely to involve ailments from both pensioned and non-pensioned conditions. To eliminate the complication of distinguishing these conditions, when a war service veteran or civilian has been pensioned for a serious level of war-related disability, health care may now be provided for all conditions.

Continuation of Health Care for Income-tested Clients

The new policy implemented in these regulations will allow health care for income-tested clients to be continued based on health need, once the veteran has satisfied the initial income test. In the past, when veterans' financial or family circumstances changed, they could have faced the difficult loss of their health care eligibility as a result of a reassessment of their incomes. Typical situations where this measure will help veterans include small increases in income from just below to just above the maximum level (e.g. the awarding of a disability pension) or the death of the spouse or common-law partner causing a decrease of the applicable maximum income level.

Chronic Care

Certain veteran categories who had access to "intermediate care" are being extended access to chronic care to better respond to possible changes in their health condition: Canada Service Veterans (i.e. those who served in wartime in Canada only), Special Duty Area pensioners (e.g. peacekeepers) and military service pensioners (i.e. members of today's Canadian Forces). For the last two groups, the care must be provided in respect of a pensioned condition.

Special Income Test for Exceptional Health Needs

The Regulations contain provisions which allow services and care to be provided when the cost of the care is unaffordable. For home-based and intermediate care, there must also be evidence of exceptional health needs on the part of the client. To harmonize these provisions with recent changes to the income assessment calendar of the War Veterans Allowance (WVA) Act, the relevant sections of the Regulations have been extensively re-written. Recalculating eligibility will now be done on the same annual cycle as the calculation of charges for "accommodation and meals" (i.e. beginning every October 1st).

This change will provide greater administrative efficiency and easier client communications.

Other Changes

Accommodation and meals — For the purposes of calculating the personal and family exemptions which reduce the charge paid by clients for accommodation and meals, the amended regulations now provide that in cases where there is no spouse or common-law partner, an "equivalent-to-spouse" exemption amount is available in respect of the first dependent child.

Common-law partners — The Regulations contain provisions pertaining to the spouse or common-law partner of qualifying veterans, civilians and military personnel. This amendment extends equal benefits and obligations to all common-law partners, consistent with recent changes to the War Veterans Allowance Act, the Pension Act, and other federal acts.

Visits to critically ill clients — The provision allowing the payment of transportation costs for visits by the next of kin to critically ill clients is expanded to include all critically ill clients in receipt of intermediate, chronic or acute care, rather than just those clients in departmental or contract beds.

News Release

Backgrounder - Explanation of Terms