The Directorate General for Compensation for Victims of Criminal Acts, better known by the acronym IVAC, must be modernized. Delays in the processing of many files, bureaucratic heaviness and perpetual waiting are the lot of many people rubbing shoulders with the organization supposed to support them.
IVAC offers various services to victims of crime, including the reimbursement of expenses related to psychotherapy services, up to a maximum of $94 per session.
Considering the fees of psychologists who work in private practice, it would be fair to think that this is luck in bad luck. However, the claim for compensation must be processed and accepted. It is still necessary to find someone willing to issue IVAC mandates for the magic to work, that is to say so that the victim only has the amount exceeding $94 to pay, which is far from be the case for the majority of professionals.
If the psychologist found does not carry out this type of mandate, it is up to the victim to pay the fees in full and to submit a reimbursement request to the IVAC afterwards. This is where the fun begins.
Endless calls, administrative maze, forms and appendices straight out of another era to be printed, filled out and signed manually, and sent by mail or fax. Otherwise, possibility of taking a photo of the said completed document or of scanning it, and transmitting it via the internet.
Time to get a refund? Twenty working days. If everything goes well. Might as well say a month. We would expect the person responsible for our file to call us in the event that supporting documents or a missing signature would slow down the process. Nay. It is up to the victim to contact the IVAC again if they have not received their check 20 days after submitting their request for reimbursement of expenses. In the meantime, nothing to do, except continue to pay out of pocket.
Decrease in income, increase in expenses
The criminal acts committed against the victims are not without consequences for them. Some live with post-traumatic shock and can no longer work. Despite disability insurance, when they have one, they are forced to suffer a reduction in salary while undergoing an increase in their expenses if they have to advance the funds necessary to begin therapy. This is not counting their children who sometimes have to go through this too.
Let’s be careful. Suppose the person found charges $115 per hour and the frequency of meetings is once a week. The victim therefore has to advance for himself alone nearly $500 before even receiving his first cheque. If everything goes well.
Many insurance companies have long had user-friendly and easy-to-use platforms in place. Reimbursements of professionals’ fees are generally made within a few days, sometimes even within 24 hours.
Would it be too much to ask to simplify access to mental health care for exhausted people who are already often crumbling under the weight of the legal system and trauma?
Just read the panoply of comments written online about the IVAC: no return calls, loss of documents, complexity of procedures, technical difficulties, administrative errors… And what about the contradictory information that do we receive, depending on whether we are talking to one agent or another, to one organization or another?
A little personal anecdote: last year, the CAVAC (Crime Victims Assistance Centre) assured me that the costs related to the use of an alarm system were among the eligible expenses that could be reimbursed by the IVAC. It was enough to make several quotes in order to find the company offering the best value for money, which I did. I signed up for a period of five years, since that was the most advantageous. What was my surprise to learn – once the contract was signed – that the IVAC did not reimburse this type of expense… Whose fault is it? No idea. On the other hand, what I do know is that it is still up to me to pay to hope to regain control of my life.
Victims deserve better than what the IVAC is currently offering them. This must change.