Somebody's got to help me with this one. This story has just appeared in the Globe and Mail and I've read it a couple of times but can't make any sense out of it.
It seems to me that this good fellow, who is a member of PRes and an MD is returning to Afstan. I am pretty sure, when I read this dog's breakfast of obfuscation and cat-and-dog narrative that he is returning to Afstan as a civilian.
I am not clear as to whether
- he is returning as a soldier (I think not),
- a civilian associated with DND (I think possibly), or
- as a civilian not associated with DND/CF ( I think so)
The problem lies in the body of the text. It appears the individual is being denied insurance from a private firm because he is returning to an area of very high danger. (Fair enough, anybody who's ever read their life insurance policy knows that the companies generally deny pay out for issues of 'force-majeure': not a great leap to see that they would deny
issuing coverage for a person putting themselves in harm's way.
Now I know all to well how DND/CF covers us, maybe someone wants to quickly review that. (
It might be worth re-hashing for 'the lurkers').
However, when I read this thing there seems to be some insinuation that because Sun Life won't cover Dr Kirkpatrick that DND/CF is somehow allowing person to go into harm's way without coverage . (Could be me, that's why I'm asking).
My question is Three fold,
- What coverage does DND/CF supply to contractors working 'in-the-box' who are not CF?
- Is this in divdual going to Afstan as a civilian associated with DND/CF or as an individual not associated with DND/CF? (based on your reading of this sophomorically written text?)
- What are they smoking in the G&M editorial offices?
Any way here's the article, comment if you wish, I'm stymied as to what we are being told here.....
From today's
Globe and Mail.
Shared under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copy right Act, RSC.
MD denied insurance for Afghan mission
Reservist wants full-time coverage because of wife, young daughters
DAWN WALTON
From Friday's Globe and Mail
CALGARY — Andrew Kirkpatrick served as a general duty medical officer with the Canadian Forces in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Persian Gulf war. He was the camp surgeon in Kabul in 2004 when he served as a reservist mending both Canadian troops and Afghan people.
Now, the 43-year-old trauma surgeon from Calgary is thinking of heading back to Afghanistan, this time to Kandahar, to once again lend a hand in the fight against terrorism.
But with a young family at home -- a wife and two daughters -- he also started thinking about life insurance and recently applied for coverage.
"We just wanted to make provisions in case the unthinkable happens," Dr. Kirkpatrick said.
Instead, he was incensed when a letter came this month from insurance company Sun Life Financial.
"We have been advised that your plans for the near future include travelling to Afghanistan. We have therefore declined your application for life coverage," the underwriter wrote.
"I know the military has problems recruiting surgeons," Dr. Kirkpatrick said. "It's just one more roadblock to our troops getting proper care."
Susan Jantzi, a spokeswoman with Sun Life, said her company wouldn't comment on individual cases due to privacy concerns, but that underwriters do consider travel to high-risk areas in making their decisions.
Last November, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade warned Canadians not to go to Afghanistan and urged those in the country to leave, citing "serious and unwarranted risks."
(The department currently has 235 active registrations of Canadians in Afghanistan who are considered non-military.)
"The threat to foreign nationals, including Canadians, from terrorist and criminal violence in Afghanistan is high and insurgency attacks are not expected to diminish in the near future," according to the department. "There is also a significant risk of foreign nationals being kidnapped in Afghanistan."
According to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, 4 per cent of Canadians are turned down for life-insurance coverage. The group, which represents 105 carriers that brought in $62.8-billion in premiums in 2005, says companies make "every effort" to insure those who present higher risks due to things such as poor health and hazardous jobs, generally with hiked premiums.
"Insurers base their decision on the risk and the history of risk," said Wendy Hope, the association's vice-president of external relations, adding that there are no industry-wide guidelines that carriers follow.
Insuring Canadians in Afghanistan is complex. Those working for the federal government have their health and life insurance covered by Ottawa. Those in the private sector, such as reporters, are covered by their employers. The premiums can also be steep.
The issue is murkier for contractors.
Civilian doctors working with the troops are responsible for getting their own insurance, and the premiums are accounted for in their pay packet, according to the Department of National Defence.
Two civilian medical specialists currently working in Afghanistan will be coming home soon as two more head overseas.
The Canadian Forces Contractor Augmentation Program currently operating at the Kandahar base under DND provides a range of non-combat services including transportation, technology support and cleaning. Last fall, there were about 80 civilians working under the program and by this May that number is expected to rise to 190.
Those workers are important to the mission, according to DND spokesman Lieutenant Adam Thomson, but they also must secure their own insurance coverage.
Another group of civilians -- 66 who work at locations such as the Tim Hortons outlet at the base -- are in Afghanistan as part of the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency. They are considered federal employees.
"The [agency] recognizes that most insurance companies have a hostilities exclusion making life insurance policies invalid while in designated 'war zones' so it has obtained life insurance for our employees while they are employed in Afghanistan," Lt. Thomson said. Those employees are covered by a $250,000 life insurance policy.
Dr. Kirkpatrick would be covered as a reservist only while serving in Afghanistan, but the University of Calgary professor, who is also the medical director of trauma for the Calgary Health Region, wanted full-time life insurance. During his tour in 2004, he didn't think about it, assuming work was handling it --which it was.
When the insurance adjuster called him about his recent application, he thought the fact he admitted to flying small planes and conducting weightlessness medical procedures in experimental aircraft would place him at greater risk than when he mentioned he might volunteer for a stint in Kandahar.
"I know that statistically the chances of me getting killed driving to Banff are worse than me getting killed in Kandahar."
Dr. Kirkpatrick said he is still considering his options in applying for coverage elsewhere and said being denied insurance won't likely change his decision to volunteer.
"I could see this discouraging some of my colleagues," he added.
Robert Malloy, another Calgary trauma surgeon who is heading to Kandahar this spring as a civilian who volunteered with the Canadian Forces, is enraged by Sun Life's refusal to insure his colleague. (He already has his own insurance.)
"It's good to see that corporate Canada is doing its utmost to support our forces overseas," he said sarcastically.
