When it comes to buying auto insurance consumers don’t know what they are buying and they are not getting what they think they paid for. Tragically, most don’t find this out until they are injured. Most drivers assume that their medical and rehabilitation needs will be covered by the basic package most of us have, and the shortfall will be easily picked up by our publicly funded healthcare system. But they’re wrong. The publicly funded system is severely underfunded and the current cap of up to $50,000 in med/rehab coverage for serious, non-catastrophic injuries which is, practically speaking, often ‘converted’ to the much lower spending cap of the Minor Injury Guideline, with a maximum of $3,500, is insufficient. This amount must cover not only physical injuries but also treatment for debilitating mental health conditions that can result from an accident. And, in many cases of minor injuries, claimants’ treatment dollars often never exceed the initial $2,200, when provider applications demonstrating the need for the additional $1,300 are often denied. Our survey respondents reported that 26% of MIG clients who clearly required more care were unable to access more than $2,200 of MIG treatment dollars.
SUBMISSION TO FSCO’s THREE YEAR REVIEW- Ontario Rehab Alliance