Since 2010 our coverage has been slashed and reduced by insurers lobbying for a changes that increases their profits on the backs of MVA survivors and their families and us, the people.
We’ve gone from millions in coverage to over 80% of claims now capped at $3500 for medical and rehabilitation in less than a decade.
Our premiums keep rising and now the standard or basic coverage is not enough to provide necessary resources or funding for seriously injured people.
10 years ago I survived a very serious car accident just outside of Orillia. I wouldn’t be here without those necessary resources & the funding that was available to Ontario drivers back then.
Everyone deserves a chance to recover but in Ontario that isn’t possible anymore.
We pay big dollars to be covered so we expect that if somebody gets injured, like I was, there would be resources for them to get back to their lives.
We don’t expect to pay high premiums and end up being dumped by our insurer on OW, ODSP and welfare. Now accident survivors are expected to lean on others and one of those ‘others’ is you and I, the taxpayers.
We need to remember that when Insurers fail us, they are taking away the ability recover and the possibility of becoming a productive member of society again.
The amount insurers have paid doesn’t come close to the real costs of recovery. According to the Attorney General of Ontario the previous government failed to hold insurers financially accountable for the agreed transfer of funds to the province to cover some of these medical costs..
The last government never went after those funds – and it is well over a billion dollars lost. Will you make them pay?
It’s time we hold insurers accountable and make them pay the real costs of recovery and support. It’s not time to lower premiums or slash coverage. It’s time for insurers to come clean about where all the premium dollars have gone and why they continue to fail Ontario MVA survivors.
In my written submission you’ll find the links and more information on the financial loss to our healthcare and social services.
2016 HSPRN report estimate of the healthcare cost to taxpayers was $383,099,805 for MVAs in 2013/14. http://www.fairassociation.ca/2016/03/hsprn-report-cost-of-public-health-services-for-ontario-residents-injured-as-a-result-of-a-motor-vehicle-accident-3/
The Auditor General pointed out failure to index medical costs from insurers in 2005 and 2011. The transfer payment was last increased from $80 million to $142 million dollars in 2006 so in the past 13 years over $1 billion has fallen through the cracks. See page 65 2011 Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en11/301en11.pdf
Insurers routinely download the costs of accident victims onto social services such as OW, ODSP. Social Assistance Summaries https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/Social_Assistance_Summaries_ON.pdf