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Canadian army soldiers board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter as they Kandahar province, Afghanistan, June 18, 2011. Under the New Veterans Charter, medical expenses are covered only from the date the government approves a veteran’s claim for a disability award.BAZ RATNER/Reuters

The Veterans Ombudsman is taking the federal government to task for failing to change a rule in the New Veterans Charter that forces some disabled vets to wait months for crucial medical devices or treatments that are not covered by public health plans – or to pay for them out of pocket.

Guy Parent says he has been trying since 2010 to persuade the government to correct a basic "unfairness" in the way benefits are delivered to recently discharged members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

In a strongly worded blog that will appear on his website on Thursday, Mr. Parent says Veterans Affairs Canada "is fully aware of this problem and has repeatedly promised to address it at the right time, but the right time never seems to arrive."

Under the old Pension Act, the Veterans Affairs department reimbursed vets for all personal medical expenses resulting from service-related injuries or illnesses that were incurred up to 90 days before they applied for a disability pension.

But under the New Veterans Charter, which replaced the Pension Act in 2006 as the federal system for providing disabled veterans with care and benefits, medical expenses are covered only from the date the government approves a veteran's claim for a disability award. There is no retroactivity.

"This is a significant difference, and one that is compounded further by the fact that the VAC is currently working through a backlog of disability award applications meaning the decision can take up to nine months," Mr. Parent writes. "It is an issue for which I receive many calls from frustrated veterans. …"

It means, for example, that a veteran who suffered a hearing loss while in the military and who has yet to be approved for a disability award must pay for hearing aids and never be reimbursed, or wait with poor hearing until the claim is given the green light, he explained.

Mr. Parent has asked in two of his reports – one in 2012 and one in 2014 – for the problem to be fixed.

It was also described as a "gap" in service by the Veterans Affairs department itself in a 2010 review of the New Veterans Charter. That review recommended that the government consider "reimbursing treatment benefits for disability award recipients retroactive to the date of application." But no action was taken.

Sarah McMaster, a spokeswoman for Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, said on Tuesday that the department is aware of the unintended inequity.

The next budget is currently being crafted, which means the minister cannot promise any action that would involve government spending.

"We recognize and appreciate that this has been problematic for veterans waiting for their benefits to be approved and are committed to looking at this as we overhaul existing programs to make them more veteran centric," Ms. McMaster said in an e-mail.

"These disparities exist due to regulatory, legislative and program differences established by successive governments over the past decade or more," she said, "and are one of the many examples of difficulties facing veterans and their families as they attempt to navigate the benefits system."

But veterans advocate Sean Bruyea said the issue represents a continued discrepancy between government talk and action. "We're inundated with reams of rhetoric about how there is care, compassion and respect for veterans," Mr. Bruyea said, "but on a simple matter of adjusting to date of application, Veterans Affairs is paralyzed."

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