Ontario has a lot of problems:
Healtcare Poverty Unemployment A stagnant economy Poor schools Slow Courts Decaying/Lack of Infrastructure
But of all these problems, Ontario government has not taken any meaninful steps to make a change. You would think that the problems listed above are very important socio-economic issues which ought to be addressed by government in one way, shape or form. You would think that all of these issues would rank higher when it comes to government policy over something as trivial as car insurance, or the implications of insurance after a car accident. But you’re wrong! Dead wrong!
When it comes to car insurance, Ontario government has made, and continues to make drastic sweeping changes.
The most recent change came on September 1, 2010, when government announced the creation of a Minor Injury Guideline (MIG). This reduced your benefits from $100,000 down to $50,000, or in MIG Cases, just $3,500.
Now Ontario’s Government want to change the rights of the most seriously injured accident victims. These accident victims are called catastrophically injured, or catastrophic accident victims. They are often brain injured, or have spinal cord injuries, or parapeligia. Here’s what the Government Task force wants to do to revise the way Insurance is provided for CAT accident victims.
This is bad news for car accident victims. Here’s why: Essentially, a catastrophically injured person who would have qualified for $1,000,000 in accident benefits, under the proposed changes, will only be eligible for $50,000 in benefits. These benefits cover such things as massage, occupational therapy, psychological counselling, neuropsychological treatment, and other medical or rehabilitative benefits which are not covered by the OHIP system.
The proposed changes do not benefit victims of car accidents. The proposed changes only benefit insurance companies. The crazy thing is that car insurance was NOT once a political hot topic issue in the previous, or any previous provincial election. Yet, every year, car insurance is one of the first things that gets tinkered with by government. And with each change to the Insurance Act, the rights of those persons hurt or injured in car accidents get chopped year after year. If you were to compare the availability of accident benefits back in the 1980’s, to the present, you will see that the public were far better taken care of back then, then we are today.
I’ve talked with my MPP about these changes. My pleas fall on deaf ears. I will remind politicians that people vote, not insurance companies. But, insurance companies likely donate far much more money to fund political campaigns that I do. Again, I never pray for anyone to be involved in a car accident. But, I think the only way that things will change is if the close family member of an MPP, or an MPP themselves is involved in a bad car accident resulting in catastrophic injury. That would open their eyes to the ridiculolus changes which have been made.
Even more amazing, is that changes to car insurance are focused on and made so quickly when these issues do not rank highly at all on the public’s radar. Have your car insurance rates gone down over the past 5 years? I doubt it. DId you know that Ontario’s car insurance rates are some of the highest in North America? Do you think that Ontario is the epicentre of fraud which justify these changes? Give me a break.