Fair Association of Victims for Accident
Insurance Reform
579A Lakeshore Rd. E, P.O. Box 39522
Mississauga, ON, L5G 4S6
March 20, 2014
OPEN LETTER
Sent by email to Premier Wynne, Charles Sousa and Deb Matthews
CC to Ontario's MPPs and the Media
On March 17, 2014 Ontario’s legislature had the second
reading of Bill 171 - Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates
Act, 2014.
FAIR believes that Bill 171 is being
rushed through by our government to increase insurer profits.
There are clearly issues that both the NDP and the Progressive
Conservatives feel are worthy of further consultations before passing 171 into
law. It is only the Liberal party who felt that “this bill, if passed, is a
practical step in helping us curb the price of auto insurance.” As if it doesn't
matter what we get for the money or that right now, only half of all accident
victims are getting the benefits they've paid for isn't a big issue.
Accident victims see Bill 171, not as a fraud fighting
measure but as a template for reducing benefits paid to injured drivers by way
of legislation geared toward enhancing insurer profits and marginalizing the rights of Ontario's disabled and injured citizens.
What kind of government creates laws that discriminate
against injured and disabled citizens by denying them the same access to
justice that every other citizen enjoys in a democratic society? Why remove the
disincentives for insurers who delay and deny legitimate claims by decreasing
prejudgment interest rates and throwing away ‘special awards’ for claimants
who have been unfairly abused at the hands of their insurer? It’s like declaring war on vulnerable MVA
victims and it has nothing to do with fighting fraud.
Not a word from the Liberals about the core reason for the
rate of insurer denials that created the backlog in our courts systems in the
first place. Bill 171 will leave us with a dishonest system based on too often
flawed and biased medico-legal opinion reports that are used to deflate and
deny legitimate claims – but it will be faster. Not better, not honest, not helpful
and certainly not fair or just.
What kind of government commission studies and panels that
continue to acknowledge the issue of the quality of the medical examinations
that accident victims are subjected to but still doesn't act to protect the
best interests of the public? One that is determined to keep the
self-regulation for medical practitioners in place despite that it is causing
so much harm to its most vulnerable citizens?
The Anti-Fraud Task Force acknowledged the problem with
IME/IE reports and expert evidence and chose to do nothing. And Justice Cunningham spent some time on the
subject in the DRS Review Report and again, there are no meaningful
recommendations to fix this harmful process that is at the core of many of the
cases that are in dispute. The recommended non-payment for a court appearance
is hardly more than a slap on the wrist. Both of these panels have recommended that the
system and the accident victims continue to rely on Ontario’s regulatory
colleges for oversight in respect to the quality of medical examinations and
reports. A system they acknowledge isn’t working and that consumers and
patients have issues with. Doing nothing about this harmful problem is an insult
to every accident victim that has had to attend these IMEs and to every
respectable assessor who does try and do a decent job.
If there were to be
an end to the unqualified or bogus IME/IE, it would be an end to the high
volume of cases in dispute and an end to much of the suffering and psychological
harm done to victims by these rogue assessors. Does this government have something
against the fair treatment of accident victims with the use of quality evidence
in court?
It can only be seen as a willful decision to put on the
blinders to this harmful practice of abuse by some of Ontario’s insurers and
their assessors. It’s dangerous out
there for the cognitively impaired or highly vulnerable accident victim when
colleges such as CPSO have a long and dark history of hiding facts and
misleading the public to protect their members. Both the Anti- Fraud and the
DRS panel had information in front of them, words spoken by other judges and
arbitrators on the harm caused by these partisan assessors and about the lack
of transparency at Ontario’s colleges.
CPSO sends third party assessors for confidential remedial
cautions when they abuse accident victims and when these same vulnerable people
appeal these secretive and dismissive
decisions, HPARB anonomizes the practitioners name so that no matter what –
accident victims will never know about prior abuse, bias or poor report writing
skills or that unauthorized rubber stamped reports are being used.
We see no interest in real regulation when it comes to
Ontario’s insurer assessment mills and their shoddy and biased medical reports
with accusations of symptom exaggeration. In fact we see the opposite. We see
recommendations by the Anti-Fraud Task Force Panel to fine injured claimants
$500 if they fail to submit to often sketchy insurer assessments. Assessments
that everyone in the industry and at FSCO knows are questionable, assessments
without real oversight that everyone, except the general public and vulnerable
accident victims, knows about.
We see the DRS Panel
making recommendations to strip injured claimants of the right to take their
cases to court. Instead of punishing rogue insurer assessors with fines or
fraud charges – we see ‘special awards’ being eliminated and the power of FSCO
Arbitrators to refer insurer misconduct to the Market Conduct Branch removed. No
more remedies for wrongful claims handling practices and all of these measures hurt MVA victims
and reward insurers for abusive conduct and delays.
Please stop trading accident victims’ rights to fair hearings, and the benefits they need for recovery, for insurer dollars.
Please fix the
quality of the medico legal reports that are used to decide whether an accident
victim is entitled to rehabilitation and benefits and in the bargain you’ll get
a fair court system that isn't clogged with legitimate accident victims who
have wrongfully been denied benefits. Please recognize that when the Colleges
don’t do their job and aren't transparent to the public so their members not
held accountable - and then the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board
helps them to mislead the public - it causes serious harm. Please fix that by
making sure the Colleges really are acting in the best interests of the public
they are charged with protecting. Please don’t make it easier for some
unscrupulous insurers to delay claims so they can make more money by paying a
lesser interest – it creates an incentive to deny claims.
Please stop capitulating to Ontario’s insurers and discriminating
against those whose insurers have failed to stand behind their contracts by
taking away their right to have their case heard. Stop letting assessors harm
accident victims and start making regulation and enforcement work.
Please stop taking action that has made Ontario’s accident
victims third class citizens and in the bargain allowed Ontario’s
insurers to walk away from their responsibilities by downloading these costs to
the taxpayer.
Sincerely yours,
Rhona DesRochesFAIR, Board Chair
http://www.fairassociation.ca/
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