From a Reader
"WOW. Globe how do you keep supporting an 'EXPERT" that doesn't know their topic and prints lies? How?
Quote from Lee’s article "Coverage varies from province to province.
Alberta and New Brunswick have a $50,000 limit for accident benefits, but with no cap for minor injuries. P.E.I., N.W.T. and Nova Scotia have $25,000. In Newfoundland and Labrador there is an option to purchase $25,000 in coverage, while the coverage in Yukon is at $10,000. However, nowhere are there “Caps for Minor Injuries” in any of these provinces."
WRONG - Alberta has a cap, since 2004 actually. It was $4,000 when introduced. Nova Scotia has a minor injury cap, since 2003, it was $2500. New Brunswick and PEI also have caps. This isn't new. It also takes about 20 seconds to research.
Be carefull who you believe and even less of what you read. The fact is Ontario will STILL have the highest benefits in the country under the new reforms. Do your own research, be informed. There is lots of direct information out there."
My Reply
Actually . . . I’m right.
Mr. WOW, you need to be careful from the thrill of a 20 second research project with your U of G Degree (University of Google).
You appear to be referring to ‘Caps’ placed on Bodily Injury Lawsuits. The topic I was discussing were the ‘Caps’ placed on your Accident Benefit Coverages for injuries.
Here’s the difference.
Bodily Injury Caps limit the amount you can ‘Sue’ an Insurance Company for your “Pain and Suffering” from an accident caused by another driver.
Accident Benefit Caps limit the ‘amount’ an insurance company is going to pay for your “Medical Treatment”.
For example; if a driver runs a red light, hits your car and you’re injured, you’re ‘Accident Benefits’ cover you for medical treatment up to your policy limit.
For example;
- Alberta and New Brunswick have a $50,000 limit for Accident Benefits
- PEI, NWT and Nova Scotia have $25,000.
- Newfoundland and Labrador have the option to purchase $25,000 in coverage
- The coverage in Yukon is at $10,000
None of these provinces have capped their coverage for minor injuries. But, beginning September 2010 Ontario’s Accident Benefits coverage is going from $100,000 to a ‘cap of $3,500’ for minor injuries. (Resource Insurance Bureau of Canada)
Not only is this a huge reduction of coverage that the Ontario driver needs to be aware of, but the announced reduction in premium is only going to result in an average savings of 1%. Some drivers will experience no savings at all. Further, drivers will not be allowed to ‘buy back’ a higher limit for minor injury coverage.
Now, if a driver runs a red light, hits your car and you’re injured, you can sue for ‘Pain and Suffering Awards’ for minor bodily injuries up to the capped amounts.
For Example;
- Alberta has a Cap for claimants with minor injuries and is currently $4,518. (It is indexed to inflation).
- Nova Scotia has a Cap for minor injuries which is $7,500. (Indexed to inflation).
- The New Brunswick and PEI Cap is $2,500 for pain and suffering and awarded to claimants with minor injuries.
(Resource Insurance Bureau of Canada)
Ironically the Ontario Driver has no Caps, instead there’s a $30,000 deductible if they wish to sue for ‘Pain and Suffering Awards’.
In other words, if the Ontario driver sues for injuries that are minor, they’re entitled to nothing as there is a $30,000 deductible that must be paid to the insurance company before they’re awarded any money from their lawsuit.
Further, Ontario drivers can only sue if the injury meets the verbal threshold of being a permanent or serious injury, which means that you’re required to prove your injuries are substantial and disabling.
Jeremy Diamond, of Diamond and Diamond lawyers deals with this hardship all the time.
He says; “I cannot tell you what a hurdle that is to overcome when you have minor injuries. So basically if you are in pain for a year and then heal, you are entitled to nothing for pain and suffering. In theory if you start a lawsuit and cannot overcome the hurdle of the deductible and the test of permanence, you could owe the insurance company money.
That is why we often have to wait a year to launch these lawsuits to see if the person will heal or not within the first year. This makes the whole process even longer. However, we have to wait to protect our clients to make sure they overcome what we call the "threshold" and then sue. The process clearly favours the insurance companies.”
In my mind, I’d take those Bodily Injury Caps over Ontario’s $30,000 deductible, and the ‘No Cap Coverage’ for my Medical Treatment over Ontario’s minor injury cap of $3,500. So what do you think Google have to say about that?!?!
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