Thank you for the opportunity to give you my recommendations for the 2020 Budget.
The Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule in the Auto Insurance File needs to be
modernized to protect injured victims.
Catastrophically injured survivors require timely access to substantial funding and
resources to assist them in achieving maximum recovery.
The $2,000,000 base for Catastrophic injuries that was in existence for over 20 years,
was supposed to be reinstated up from the reduction to $1 million made in 2016. The
public is still waiting! With the costs of services increasing, even the $2 million dollars
doesn’t cover all the needs of a person who has suffered a life changing injury. This
government should follow through on their plan to take action for these injured people. It
is noted that even going back up to $2 million is about half of what was available to
Catastrophically injured persons 25 years ago when adjusted for inflation.
The Insurers are traumatizing survivors with the amount as well as the poor quality of
Independent Medical Examinations (IME) that they use to determine the extent of the
injuries. A three strikes rule would allow the insurers to fight against fraud in the system
without halting the recovery of the injured person. Implementing a three strikes rule
protects Ontario inured MVA survivors from improper and unqualified assessors and
their medical reports.
A roster of IME doctors, who are up to date in their training, without regulatory College
cautions on their record and who are truly qualified in their specialties should be a goal
of this government. Communications with treating physicians needs to be necessary to
ask for clarifications of submitted reports.
Attention should be on how and why there is a current $935,000.00 difference in
rehabilitation resources between being seriously injured ($65,000 for non-catastrophic)
and Catastrophic injuries ($1 million). This gap is where many people fall through the
cracks when they cannot get the treatment they need.
There should be independence in the system to ensure Ontario’s injured drivers are
getting the help they need and not just what insurers feel they want to pay for.
We are mandated to purchase a product that isn’t covering us in our time of need.
Will this government provide the leadership to fix it?
Tammy Kirkwood, February 11, 2020