#TruthAboutInsurance Auto Insurance and the Provincial Election - Part 2 of series

March 29, 2018, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Car accidents happen every day. Fortunately, many people walk away from their crashes with injuries that do not alter their lives. For a significant number of people, their car accident injuries alter their lives forever. Full recovery will never happen for many people, and the best they can hope for is to adapt their life to their new abilities.

For some people this means a life without the pleasure of recreational sports (hockey, soccer, skiing), for others it means never walking again without canes and crutches, for others it means never walking again, and for some it means never getting out of bed or having full cognitive abilities ever. For all crash victims with serious injuries there is a long and painful road back from injury to functionality. Months and years of physical and cognitive therapy is often required to learn to walk again, or to learn to speak. It can be very disheartening for the victim and their families and loved ones. Career changes are often required. For many, they will never be able to work again.

The economic impact of requiring extensive and expensive therapy and physical aids like crutches and walker and wheel chairs, is very large. This is impacted by the fact that if you lose your job due to your inability to work you lose your benefits. Private insurance benefits are drawn down before accident benefits are used under our car insurance regime. This means that for many people who have insurance the pool of money for treatment shrinks substantially.

In response to the public outcry over high auto insurance premiums in Ontario, the government and the insurers lowered rates by lowering our coverages. New coverage maximums have dropped. For a minor injury as defined in the Schedule the MAXIMUM coverage you may receive for all therapy, drugs, and assessments is $3500. When you consider that the initial assessment with a physiotherapist is over $100 and treatments are close to $70 the money will not last long. For more serious, but not catastrophic injuries, the limit is for all treatments is $65,000 (reduced from almost $100,000), and for catastrophic injuries as defined by the Schedule, the limit was reduced from $2 million to $1 million. If you consider that full time nursing care is $6500/month and the cost of drug and therapy, the money available for treatment will not last the lifetime of most victims.

This provincial election has all three parties talking again about the high costs of auto insurance in Ontario. If you are concerned with your auto insurance rates AND your benefit limits in the event of an accident you should keep an eye on the position of the three parties during this upcoming election period. You can do this by following @ontariotla and #truthaboutinsurance on social media.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.