Man Regains his Transplant Coverage Loss Once Wife Receives EI

In Ontario, a young father that suffers from kidney disease needs a transplant to continue life, and has just found out the benefits that he lost because his wife was collecting employment insurance while she was on maternity leave is going to be restored. His family was “blindsided” when they found out that he would be losing his disability and drug benefits that he had been collecting in recent years. “If I don’t have those drug benefits, the hospital will not move forward with the transplant.” “I cried all day long the first day we found out we were going to get cut off,” said his wife, Rebecca.

The government regulations throughout Ontario require that the household income from EI is to be deducted, every dollar to dollar from their provincial disability coverage. This is just to prevent those people from receiving two types of assistance from two levels of the government. He found out just two days before his monthly benefit of $850 was due, but he wouldn’t be getting it again until October. “I don’t feel the government owes me a living,” he said. “It’s just that I need disability so that I can get my transplant and get back to school and get working.” His wife started collecting her maternity benefits once she delivered a premature little girl at the end of August. Her normal wages are $1500 a month, and she has no drug coverage. “My husband is not well and might need drugs at any time,” she said, adding there is no way they could afford the post-transplant medications, which cost thousands.