Penticton, B.C. man frustrated with province over clawback of disability payments | 24CA News
Ron Smart was a baker within the Okanagan for a few years earlier than medical doctors found a tumour that was positioned six centimetres into his mind close to his mind stem in 2018.
It was potential for the medical doctors to take away a lot of the malignant tumour, however a small a part of the mind tumour remained.
“It was a very large tumour, and on my medical reports they wrote, ‘non-survivable’,” stated Smart.
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But Smart survived the surgical procedure and now he and his spouse reside in a quiet Penticton, B.C., neighbourhood
He is unable to work, although, as a result of intense surgical procedure. He has been dwelling off each federal and provincial incapacity funding which totals slightly below $23,000 a yr.
The drawback is that the provincial funding is capped and his spouse can solely make a sure amount of cash a yr.
“Once your spouse hits $15,500 you’re cut off,” Smart stated/
“The way that the government explained it is that it’s based on your spouse’s income. Because we did everything by the book, by the rules, we got the impression we were being punished for being married on disability.”
Smart’s spouse makes lower than $24,000 a yr, working part-time at an area gasoline station.
He tells Global News that she must ship in her pa stubs every month as soon as they hit that cap quantity of $15,000. His provincial funds are suspended till he’s reassessed once more early the next yr.
“So it works out to six to seven months of coverage a year and then that’s it,” Smart stated. “So it works out to six to seven months of coverage a year and then that’s it.”
Global News reached out to the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. In an announcement, Minister Sheila Malcolmson stated that, “Many people are facing real challenges around the world with global inflation.”
She additionally mentions that the B.C. authorities has raised revenue help and incapacity help charges 4 instances.
“We’ve also increased earning exemptions for those on Disability Assistance, from $9,600 a year in 2017 to $15,000 a year in 2021, so that someone can make up to $15,000 in addition to what they receive in disability assistance,” stated Malcolmson.
Smart says he’s tried to succeed in out to a number of folks within the provincial authorities, together with former premier John Horgan when he was in workplace.
He says he both will get no solutions or is ignored. He stated he want to see some adjustments made to this technique in order that fewer folks undergo who’re simply attempting to outlive.
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