“I wonder what their poverty line is.” That musing from Dick Twin last week as he considered his lot in life. The 64-year-old has terminal cancer that started in his lungs two years ago. Since then it’s moved around, spreading to the lymph nodes and more recently his brain. It’s slowly robbing his voice and sapping his strength.
“They call it aggressive progressive,” explained his wife Diane. “The oncologist says no matter how you treat it, this kind pops up somewhere else.”
Dick was working for Slave Lake Housing Authority when he was diagnosed. He continued working as long as he could, but had to go on long-term disability last October. He collected Employment Insurance for 15 weeks, but then had to rely on his long-term disability insurance policy.
“I was paying premiums for $1,500 per month with Maritime Life Assurance,” but when the cheque arrived, Dick was shocked to see he’d only be receiving $1,000.
A letter from Maritime’s Disability Claims office explains that as per the group insurance terms, “An insured employee’s benefits will be reduced by income payable (or would have been payable had the employee applied for it) ..because the employee is disabled or retired under any plan required or provided by a government or pursuant to a statute such as…. Canada or Quebec Pension Plan…excluding income payable for the spouse, children or other dependents.”
“I can’t live on $1,000 a month,” says Dick, listing off the monthly rent and utility bills that fill his mailbox each month. They add up to about $800, he says, leaving just $200 per month to feed himself and his wife and cover other incidental costs.
He’s a member of the Swan River First Nation so the band picks up his medical bills.
“I wonder what their poverty line is,” he repeated, half-heartedly, his voice a barely audible whisper.
“What gets me is I paid CPP all my life, and I paid into that insurance plan since I started working at Housing. These insurance companies advertise on television how great they are, but when you have to apply for (help), you learn that you have to look at the fine print.
“You hear and read all the stories about insurance rates going up and all that, but I have to wonder what they say about paying people who can’t work.”
He says he’ll talk to Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pearl Calahasen and Athabasca Member of Parliament Dave Chatters as he looks for answers and a means to make ends meet.
“We were managing on EI because we got $600 every two weeks,” he says. But $1,000 a month won’t pay the bills and Dick has almost a year to wait until he can collect Old Age Security.
“I guess it’s buyer beware when you pay for life insurance.”

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