Ontario Auto Reform – Year 1

The reforms to vehicle insurance in this province put in place by the provincial government have run for a full year (starting September 1, 2010).

And except for the very small percentage of policyholders who have initiated changes to their basic policy, this means that every driver, passenger, and pedestrian now has less healthcare coverage resulting from a vehicle accident than a year ago.

To understand the reason, rewind to 2010, when:

• Ontario’s average automobile bodily injury claim was $53,000; by comparison,Alberta’s was well under $10,000.
• in someOntarioauto rehab clinics, average claims were almost 20 times higher than the costs associated with similar injuries rehabbed thru Worker’s Comp programs.

Because the government controlled automobile rates, and because a provincial election was scheduled for October 2011, intervention – at least for political reasons – was thought to be necessary.

Recognizing Ontario had the most generous auto accident healthcare benefits in the country, the decision was to reduce everybody’s basic coverage, and give the opportunity to buy up – in other words, pay more to maintain the same coverage.

But approx. 95% of Ontarians have not restored any of the claw-backs – often because they don’t know they have had their coverage reduced.

For example, in the case of a non-catastrophic injury, available medical and rehabilitation coverage was reduced from $100,000 to $50,000; and attendant care was cut in half to $36,000.

If you are anOntarioautomobile policyholder – please get informed.  Start by talking to your broker.

Knowledge is the first step in managing your risk.

additional information is available at: http://www.kibl.com/autoreform.html

Tags: Automobile, claims, coverage, insurance, ontario, premium, risk, safety