Whats available for financial assistance....got denied Disability

[smith]

Has anyone in Ontario received long term benefits?? Or is there other assistance out there?? My husband has been off for over a year after being fired when he went thru a year long manic episode. We did not know he was bipolar at the time. It took me 3 months to convince him that he needed help(anyone who has bipolar disorder knows you don't want to be brought down from the high of mania because it's too much fun) Then I found out we couldn't just make an appointment in the mental health department, but had to get him a referral from our family doctor. By the time we got into a psychiatrist it was 3 months later. He gave us a letter for EI and my husband received 10 weeks of backdated EI that and told he would have to apply for long term disability. After another 3 months of waiting for his next appointment the Dr agreed to fill out the forms for disability. IT took over a month for the forms to get to me and then I applied. 4 months later and he just got denied because they think that now that he is on medication he will be able to return to work within a year. So never mind the fact he's been off for over a year with only 10 weeks EI and never mind that he has paid into it and never used it. Now we are waiting for our next appointment in April so we can appeal.

What do people do for money? We have been lucky because my husband had a decent amount of money saved and my mom has helped, but I expected we would be back dated to April when the EI technically finished. Any info would be very helpful.

[AJ]

Welcome to the forum Smith. Perhaps someone from Ontario will join in.

[paul m]

Hello Smith and welcome to the forums. When someone becomes disabled it is indeed a confusing world out there trying to find help. Plus there isn't all that much help available and you can end up losing your savings.

In regards to disability. It's unclear whether or not you are trying to get back LTD from an employer or other types of LTD. I can't speak for any employer's LTD, but I can explain what else is available.

In Ontario EI benefits for sick leave last an absolute max of 15 wks depending on how long a person has worked for and when they filed the claim. There are no extended or long term UI sick leave benefits beyond 15 wks.

Ontario Disability support payments (ODSP) are paid to someone who has a lengthy and severe illness. The amount you receive depends on how many dependents that a person has and what assets a person has. There are some exempt assets, such as a primary vehicle, the house a person lives in and several other assets. Plus up to $7500 in cash (plus 500 more for each child). Most assets other then exempt ones must be used up first before collecting ODSP.

ODSP payments can be found at http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/documents/...upport/6_1.pdf and is divided into two parts, basic needs on page two and a shelter calculation , click on 6.2 on page 10. Plus ODSP pays for most medications and some minimal dental work.

For example basic needs for a couple and two kids would be $1211 and a shelter allowance of up to a maximum of $886 or a total of $2097. (example, if your shelter costs are $500, then that all you will get is $500, if they are $1200, then you will get a max of $886)

His ODSP payments may be affected by any income that you bring in from any source and if you have employment income then it's dollar for dollar subtracted, although depending on other income, some medication may be covered.

If your husband does get LTD from a former job, then the ODSP is repayable in part or in whole. It will take 3-6mths minimum to process the claim, but they do pay retro actively to the date of application. In the meantime he can apply for and quickly receive OW, but the payments are much less. (also the amount paid by OW is subtracted from the retro active ODSP payment.) For more info and an online application form http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/pr...ly_online.aspx .ODSP is not taxable.

He may be eligible for Canada pension plan disability. In order to be eligible for CPPD, he must have a prolonged (expected to last at least a yr) and severe illness. The payments rates are dependent soley on how much he paid into CPP . The average is between $800 and 1200 a mth. There are no medical benefits attached to CPPD. If a person has dependent children there is an additional amount of just over $200 per mth per child. The basic amount is taxable if a person has other income. The gov't pays the doctor to fill out the initial forms.

CPPD is a stand alone payment. That is, you can be a millionaire and still collect it. Nor is any deduction made for a working spouse or any other family income. CPPD may be retro active to time first off work, minus 15 wks.

It's not unusual for a person to receive 800 per mth from CPPD and then a top up from ODSP.

There are a few other regs in regards to length of time on must pay into CPP to qualify etc. More can be found at http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/s...it/index.shtml

On average it takes a minimum of 6 mths to get the first check from CPPD.

I hope all of this helps, but if something is unclear please don't hesitate to ask.

In regards to your comment about mania being fun. I can only wish that were true. Being paranoid, hallucinating, and knowing that you've lost at least partial control of your mind was never fun for me. Neither were the countless sleepless nights where I lay worrying where my uncontrollable mind would take me next. Or the endless guilt that I felt, even when manic, when I realized that I had done something stupid. Usually I didn't feel guilt right away, but it was there by the bucket load and could fuel more manic epidsodes.

You will hear some people say that they enjoyed the ability to work long hrs or other parts of mania. However in reality, that is hypomania and even then we rarely get to enjoy just some parts. There is lots of bad that comes with hypomania too. Take Care. paul m

Mania will give us an utter determination not to change, but that is the nature of the illness, rather than a sign of enjoyment.

[AJ]

Paul you're amazing! What a great explanation.

[paul m]

Thx AJ. Take Care. paul m

[glimmerofhope]

Hi Smith. I am new here and can provide you with lots of information regarding this from personal experience. Maybe you could send me a private message?