A few years ago when I commented in the
Times on the 50 per cent reduction in benefits for people injured in car
accidents, my letter was responded to within days by Ralph Palumbo.
Ralph Palumbo is the vice-president of the
Insurance Bureau of Canada and he spends his time lobbying on behalf of
insurance companies for higher premiums and lower benefits. He does not
represent the average person. He represents insurance companies.
Auto insurance companies in Ontario are
making huge profits right now. Mr. Palumbo is trying to take the
spotlight off of this fact by making the nonsensical argument that
lawyers are driving up insurance costs. Nothing could be further from
the truth.
The government took away the right to sue
your own auto insurer this year and your right to sue the at-fault
driver’s insurer has been severely curtailed for decades.
Mr. Palumbo is supporting a petition
presented by a Conservative MPP to have the government cap the fees of
lawyers in motor vehicle accident cases. However, it is the incomes of
insurance executives that should be scrutinized.
The chief executive officer of Economical
Insurance spent $28,435 for limousine service in one year. She also
earned $2.9 million. I don’t know of any lawyers who ride around in
limousines.
The largest auto insurance company, Intact,
paid its CEO $5.1 million last year and as of last December, he had
share holdings worth $17.5 million.
Mr. Palumbo and his clients have been fear
mongering at Queen’s Park for years and governments of the day keep
listening to them.
The end result, as we can now see, is higher
profits than ever before for insurance companies. Since 2010, when our
benefits were cut in half, auto insurance companies have made $3 billion
in profits. Case closed.
Robert Konduras
Cambridge
Editor’s note: Robert Konduras is a Cambridge lawyer.
Comment
There were over 42,000 Ontario
Disability Support Program (ODSP) applications last year, many of them
auto accident claimants who are forced to wait many years for their
benefits. There are 61,063 auto insurance cases on the docket in Ontario
courts, there are over 25,000 cases at the Financial Services
Commission DRS unit, and many of our members are on ODSP and CPP
disability so Ontario’s insurers are already well on the road to paying
less than their fair share of MVA expenses and we already have a
distorted form of public auto insurance.
Insurance companies never lose.
Remember when they advocated better bumpers ? Well those bumpers cost
more to repair so we saved nothing. How about airbags because YOU did
not buckle up ? Well airbags put the cost of your car up and are
expensive to replace after an accident. You saved nothing. All these
"improvements" and people still kill themselves due to poor driving. As
for roundabouts, all the insurance industry looks at is the number of
accidents. And they are higher with those expensive #%@# things.
Welcome everyone to the privatization
of government mandated compulsory insurance............remember when the
government proclaimed that "privatization" will create competition and
LOWER premiums for Ontarians??????? - How's that working out for us so
far???????. Seems these insurance companies are making record profits,
while citizens continue to be gouged in the process..............Just
think how the sale of hydro is going to work out for us in 20 years. The
current costs are just the beginning, better get the Vaseline out -
Ontarians are going to need it.
I always remember hearing a discussion
on the radio about how insurance is going to be higher rates for cities
with lots of roundabouts as there are more accidents with them. I also
know people who were in car accidents and insurance spends more money on
lawyers rather then paying out valid claims. It would be cheaper to the
valid claims. There needs to be a better system put in place to
minimize the waste spent on lawyers. If there is strong medical
evidence, all that is needed are set fees and stop the 3 to 5 or more
years of battles between lawyers and doctors. If there is going to be a
payout, just work out those details and there would actually be a
savings on costs. Insurance isn't hurting cause they still make profits
either way.
Banking and insurance are making
record profits on the backs of citizens who are marching into poverty
trying to afford it. With the grand "intensification" project in
Waterloo region we can look forward to rising car/home insurance rates
as crime and accidents begin to rise aswell just like Toronto. Did the
grand LRT/Intensification salesman forget to tell you about the "hidden"
costs of their grand scheme??????. Anyone who thinks they will see a
sudden drop in insurance rates are lying to themselves............they
will slowly drop across the province, but here they will remain high if
not rise even higher.
Source: http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/opinion-story/5588567-insurance-companies-reaping-profits/
