Canadian Insurance News

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Hundreds rally against cuts to auto insurance benefits

By Maryam Shah, Toronto Sun

First posted: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 08:22 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 08:27 PM EDT

TORONTO - Changes to auto insurance benefits for motor vehicle accident victims passed in the Ontario legislature Wednesday as part of the provincial budget.

“God help us all,” Tammy Kirkwood said upon hearing the news. “We’re getting a lot less coverage for a lot more money and I’m not sure why.”

Kirkwood was one of hundreds of protesters at Queen’s Park rallying against reductions in auto insurance benefits which they say will have the most effect on victims with catastrophic injuries.

The 47-year-old Orillia woman said protesters were “flabbergasted” that the provincial government “was trying to disable our resources and our funding to recover.”

Part of the changes to auto insurance rules under the new budget mean that combined coverage for medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits for the catastrophically injured will be cut in half from its current cap of $2 million to $1 million.

Kirkwood survived a 2008 collision when a dump truck hit her car. She had to be pried free from her vehicle by firefighters, and was deemed catastrophically injured.

She says she was only able to move forward because she had access to the services she needed.

Unable to return to work, Kirkwood now volunteers as an advocate with FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform.

New Democratic Party MPP Jagmeet Singh spoke at the rally in support of their cause.

The cuts affect “the most vulnerable people,” such as people with brain and spinal cord injuries, he said.

“They need benefit coverage ... to live an at least somewhat decent life,” Singh pointed out.

A spokesman for Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the government is “working hard to create a fair and affordable insurance system” for the province’s 9.4 million drivers.

Ontario is “the only province in Canada to offer exclusive catastrophic coverage,” Kelsey Ingram said in an e-mail.

“Catastrophically impaired claimants will also continue to be able to sue an at-fault party to recover damages for health-care expenses and potentially other claims,” she added.

The provincial government is also committed to making sure any savings from these changes do not result in “excess profits” for insurance companies, Ingram said.

“This is about lowering premiums while providing support and protection for all Ontario drivers,” she said.

maryam.shah@sunmedia.ca

MD watchdog becoming less secretive

The College of Physicians and Surgeons will post on its website whether MDs have been "orally cautioned" for mistakes...

More/ source: http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2015/06/01/md-watchdog-becoming-less-secretive.html

Simplify ODSP process

Re: Ontario rethinks complex disability reviews, May 17

Ontario rethinks complex disability reviews, May 17

In her interview with Laurie Monsebraaten, Mary Marrone of the Income Security Advocacy Centre gives us pause when she describes the process of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) medical reviews as flawed, wasteful, and “careless with people’s lives.”

As a physician and a member of the Select Committee on Mental Health and Addictions, being careless with people’s lives is the last thing Helena Jaczek, the Minister of Community and Social Services, would want.

That’s why Ontario’s registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and nursing students urge her to simplify the ODSP application process. Right now, it is so complicated that more than half of community legal clinic cases involve ODSP appeals.

With more than half of these appeals being eventually approved by the Social Benefits Tribunal, this is not accountability but “denial by design.” We can and must be ever careful with the lives of every Ontarian, especially those most in danger due to health and disability challenges.

Doris Grinspun, CEO, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, Toronto

Source: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2015/05/29/simplify-odsp-process.html

Ontario's 25-Year No-Fault Journey

Ontario's auto insurance system is unrecognizable, and it is time to stop tinkering. The concept of using an insurance system to provide a social safety net is flawed, perhaps requiring in its place a system where private insurance companies provide both third-party liability and physical damage coverage while a Crown corporation delivers accident benefits.....

More/ source: By: Willie Handler, Consultant, Willie Handler and Associates 2015-05-01
http://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/news/ontarios-25-year-no-fault-journey/1003649700/?type=Print%20Archives

Injured worker on hunger strike for compensation hearing

After 18 days with only water and broth to drink, Jimmy Velgakis says he just wants a chance to tell his side of the story.

MARCO CHOWN OVED / TORONTO STAR Order this photo

Former city worker Jimmy Velgakis holds vigil outside Queen's Park, where he's holding a hunger strike to make his case for workers compensation.

After more than 20 years, Jimmy Velgakis is still angry.

With a sign around his neck, he’s been standing in front of Queen’s Park for the past 18 days on a hunger strike. The former city ice rink worker injured his back lifting a piece of plywood on the job in 1991 and has never received the workers’ compensation benefits he says he’s due.

When he tells his story, Velgakis’ voice grows louder and his deep tan takes on a reddish hue.

“I have the injury. I prove that and they refuse to pay me,” he says in a thick Greek accent. “When I get to a second tribunal, they kick me out of the room. They don’t allow me to talk. They play with me.”

As he reaches his crescendo, the 74-year-old mustachioed man stops and stumbles backward. After nearly three weeks with only water and broth to sustain him, he says, these flashes of weakness hit with increasing frequency.

It’s Velgakis’ third hunger strike in the past four years. The last two ended with promises that he would get a new hearing and be given an opportunity to tell his side of the story. Both times, a full hearing didn’t materialize.

“At every turn this poor man has just been shut down. He really is literally at the end of his tether right now. We tried everything to convince him not to do this, but he insisted,” said NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo, who went on a 10-day hunger strike with Velgakis in 2013.

DiNovo, who plans to highlight Velgakis’ case in a statement to the House on Monday in honour of injured worker’s day, has tried to get the premier, minister of labour and Toronto city hall involved, but says she has been rebuffed at every turn.

“It’s a matter of justice. He’s been fighting for years. It’s very indicative of what injured workers have to go through with (the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board). He’s just not letting it go. Why should he?” she said.

The WSIB declined to comment and referred the Star to the Workplace Safety Insurance Appeals Tribunal. The WSIAT doesn’t normally comment about individual worker’s cases, said acting general counsel Michelle Alton.

“We are aware of Mr. Velgakis’ hunger strike. The tribunal hopes he takes care of himself and he stays healthy,” she said.

After his injury, Velgakis continued to work for three years in a role that had been adapted for his bad back. When the city laid him off in 1994, he was given a one-time payout and signed away — unwittingly, he says — his right to pursue further claims.

In 1996, Velgakis won a decision recognizing his injury and granting him benefits, but he only got a few days of payments before they were cut off.

At the next hearing, his temper got the best of him and he was asked to leave while his future was decided without him. His claim was rejected.

Velgakis rented out his basement and asked his brother in England for some help to make ends meet, but soon the pressure became too much. He says his marriage fell apart and he grew estranged from his two daughters. He now lives off a half-pension from the city and CPP.

Marion Endicott, of Injured Workers’ Consultants, represents Velgakis free of charge. While acknowledging that he’s exhausted his legal avenues for recourse, she argues that he should be given a new hearing on humanitarian grounds.

“Jimmy has been the victim of an insidious transformation of our workers’ compensation system from an inquiry-based one to an adversarial one,” Endicott said. “Jimmy’s fighting not only for himself, he’s fighting for all injured workers — the only difference is that he’s not giving up.”

Source: www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/29/injured-worker-on-hunger-strike-for-compensation-hearing.html

Hospitals still use flawed secrecy law to review medical errors

As the government drags its heels over amending the health secrecy act, hundreds of critical care incidents are still being investigated under the flawed legislation, the Star has learned.

Hospitals continue to invoke a controversial health secrecy law when they investigate critical medical errors, despite a government report that in March highlighted serious flaws in the legislation.

In the past week, the Star has surveyed 15 hospitals in the GTA and found more than 200 critical or severe incidents had been handled under the act since April 2014 — most of those while the legislation was under active review by the province. This includes at least 11 patient deaths...

More/ source: http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2015/05/29/hospitals-still-use-flawed-secrecy-law-to-review-medical-errors.html

"House of horrors" dentist leaves practice

This ones not a canadian story but deserves our attention:

by Jill Gregorie | 31 May 2015

Last week, news emerged that a Florida authorities were investigating a pediatric dentist accused of performing unnecessary tooth extractions on children, while possibly slapping and choking them in the process.

Dr. Howard Schneider`s practice is now being referred to as a "House of Horrors."

The 78 year-old had a history of similar allegatoins, including a three year-old whose family settled out of court after the infant received 16 “unnecessary” crowns. Schneider made headlines this time around after a mother started a Facebook campaign wjemher daughter arrived to have one tooth extracted, but ended up having seven removed.

“She was hyperventilating and had blood all over her, marks all over her," the mom reported. Staff had prevented the mother from sitting alongside her daughter, for no explicable reason.

Another mother has come forward and professed that her son had two front teeth removed for “unknown reasons” and claims that the dentist choked during the procedure. She was unable to hear his screams becuase she is deaf.

There is a possibility that this story took so long to emerge because Schneider would don scary costumes and tell children "your mom will die if you tell her what happened." Schneider is one of the only dentists in the region to accept government-funded Medicaid insurance, and he's earned nearly $4 million from the program while committing these practices.

Since the story went viral, Schneider lost his medical license and more than 60 former patients are filing a lawsuit. The attorney general is also investigating these charges.

The Florida Board of Dentistry has announced that it will ensure Schneider never works in this field in the state again.

Source: http://www.insurancebusiness.ca/news/house-of-horrors-dentist-leaves-practice-191785.aspx