Canadians with terminal illnesses face new rules in test for faster benefits

OTTAWA — The people who walk into Ilene Shiller’s office are usually more stressed about their finances than the diagnosis that they only have a short time left to live.

Shiller helps terminally ill Canadians fill out the forms needed to receive a federal disabilities pension and hear back from officials in short order about whether they qualify for benefits.

In a few weeks, these Canadians will face a new test for fasttracking their Canada Pension Plan disability requests in a bureaucratic bid to finally unclog a system that has faced years of criticisms. The $4.3-billion CPP disability program aims to rush through benefits decisions for dying Canadians, but has faced hurdles in meeting timelines.

Now, the government plans to change the rules in a few weeks to grant an expedited review to people whose doctors declare they have just six months to live.

“The certainty of the six months is a good thing because it’s a been little bit open-ended in terms of what ‘terminally ill’ meant,” said Shiller.

The decision to set the standard for six months was aimed at untangling — again —problems in how the government decides who deserves a speedy decision, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.

Auditor general Michael Ferguson’s February 2016 review of the disability pension program found terminal patients were waiting too long for benefits.