CIN is a non-profit Advocate for Insurance and Health Care Reform. Postings are cut/paste from other sources. @Cinsurancenews #rally4accidentvictims #ABPetition #CPPbacklog
Monday, December 12, 2016
Ontario’s auto insurance benefits a ‘hollow shell’
The changes to Ontario’s auto insurance benefits are yet another blow to drivers and accident victims that will ultimately cost the system, says Toronto plaintiff personal injury lawyer Brian Goldfinger.
Source/more:
http://www.advocatedaily.com/brian-goldfinger-ontarios-auto-insurance-benefits-a-hollow-shell.html
Juries swayed by big $ spent on IBC fraud campaigns
It would seem that David Cheifetz, a now retired defence lawyer, can be as insulting to auto insurance claimants via his incredibly ignorant statements to the Chair of FAIRAssociation.ca (not-for-profit motor vehicle accident victim group seeking insurance reform) as so many of the rogue IME assessors are to claimants they assess, whom they deny in order to keep their lucrative insurer-paid jobs.
More: http://deniedbenefitclaims.com/blog.html
Patients sue doctor after suffering infections, serious illnesses under his care
Dr. Stephen James was found by a disciplinary committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to have treated a number of patients in unsterile conditions, some of whom later became seriously ill.
More:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/10/29/doctor-faces-class-action-after-cpso-suspension.html
Van Galder v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company
[11] There is no issue that the respondent was seriously
injured in a motor vehicle accident on January 20, 2004. She suffered
significant physical injuries to both legs. Since the date of the
accident, she has been unable to walk unaided and is now
wheelchair-bound. Subsequent complications and surgeries that
followed over the next several years resulted in the amputation of
her lower right leg and left her with chronic pain.
[93] The appellant submits that the application judge’s order has the opposite effect: it “incentivizes” an insured person to delay his or her catastrophic application as long as possible in order to accrue tremendous amounts of interest in the interim. According to the appellant, this would also create difficulty for insurers in properly establishing reserves for claims files open beyond the 104 (or 260)-week period.
[94] These arguments were submitted to and rejected by the application judge. I also would not give effect to them.
[95] First and foremost, it defies common sense that a catastrophically impaired insured person would delay making an application that would open the door to desperately needed enhanced catastrophic benefits. I agree with the application judge’s observations in this regard:
A catastrophic injury is a serious one; catastrophically injured people require assistance to perform their activities of everyday living and to cover medical expenses. The nature of these expenses are such that they cannot be forgone by a victim or denied by an insurer, with the aim of accruing or avoiding costs.
[96] There is no question that the SABS requires an insured person to make the necessary applications and provide the required information to an insurer. However, these obligations must be understood in the context of a catastrophic impairment. The nature of many catastrophic impairments may necessarily render a catastrophically impaired insured person incapable of navigating and completing the complicated and detailed application process for a catastrophic impairment determination. As the application judge found, this is clearly what happened in the present case.
Source/more: 2016 ONCA 804 (CanLII), < http://canlii.ca/t/gvd47
[93] The appellant submits that the application judge’s order has the opposite effect: it “incentivizes” an insured person to delay his or her catastrophic application as long as possible in order to accrue tremendous amounts of interest in the interim. According to the appellant, this would also create difficulty for insurers in properly establishing reserves for claims files open beyond the 104 (or 260)-week period.
[94] These arguments were submitted to and rejected by the application judge. I also would not give effect to them.
[95] First and foremost, it defies common sense that a catastrophically impaired insured person would delay making an application that would open the door to desperately needed enhanced catastrophic benefits. I agree with the application judge’s observations in this regard:
A catastrophic injury is a serious one; catastrophically injured people require assistance to perform their activities of everyday living and to cover medical expenses. The nature of these expenses are such that they cannot be forgone by a victim or denied by an insurer, with the aim of accruing or avoiding costs.
[96] There is no question that the SABS requires an insured person to make the necessary applications and provide the required information to an insurer. However, these obligations must be understood in the context of a catastrophic impairment. The nature of many catastrophic impairments may necessarily render a catastrophically impaired insured person incapable of navigating and completing the complicated and detailed application process for a catastrophic impairment determination. As the application judge found, this is clearly what happened in the present case.
Source/more: 2016 ONCA 804 (CanLII), < http://canlii.ca/t/gvd47
Ont. Super. Ct. finds that the terms of a consent form for a s. 44 SABS assessment must be agreed to by the parties and cannot be imposed by the insurer
In Intact Insurance Company v. Beaudry, Ontario Superior Court Justice Beaudoin held that absent a prescribed form, or a standard form that may be devloped by the various stakeholders, the insurer and insured must agree on the consent form for assessments by healthcare practitioners under s. 44 of the SABS before they can be conducted.
More:
http://www.hughesamys.com/blawg/blawg-post/blog/2016/10/19/ont.-super.-ct.-finds-that-the-terms-of-a-consent-form-for-a-s.-44-sabs-assessment-must-be-agreed-to-by-the-parties-and-cannot-be-imposed-by-the-insurer
Ontario to Introduce New Measures to Protect Patient Privacy
The province intends to introduce amendments to the Personal
Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) that, if passed, would
strengthen privacy rules, make it easier to prosecute offences and
increase fines.
MORE:
http://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2015/06/ontario-to-introduce-new-measures-to-protect-patient-privacy.html
MORE:
http://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2015/06/ontario-to-introduce-new-measures-to-protect-patient-privacy.html
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Auto insurance: What do you get for $1 million?
Source: Ontario Today
Major changes to auto
insurance kick in on June 1st. The cost of basic coverage will drop an
average of 3.7 per cent. But so will the payout for catastrophic
injuries, from $2 million to $1 million.
Listen to the cuts on the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2689763479
Inquiry into Medical Evidence petition
Link to: Inquiry into Medical Evidence petition
FAIR has put together a paper version of the petition calling for a Public Inquiry into the medical evidence used in our courts and administrative tribunals. It is the same as the one we have asked you to sign online.
The Ontario Legislature ONLY accepts ORIGINAL petitions, on paper, with ‘hand signed’ signatures. There are strict rules for petitions so NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh’s office has generously agreed to receive the paper petition in his office and present it at Queen’s Park.
If you or a loved one were injured in an auto accident, at work or elsewhere wouldn’t you want an honest, unbiased and qualified medical opinion/report of your injuries? That’s just not happening in Ontario for injured and disabled individuals who make a claim for benefits through their private or public insurers. What if it was your fault that something happens to someone else? You’d want them to have the best chance at recovery wouldn’t you?
Please print, sign and circulate the petition because quality and qualified medical evidence shouldn’t be something we need – it should be something we already have because there is no real justice without it.
Make a copy and mail the ORIGINAL copies to: MPP Jagmeet Singh, Room 172 Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park 111 Wellesley St. Toronto, ON M7A 1A5
Other On-line petition: https://www.change.org/p/the-legislative-assembly-of-ontario-support-a-public-inquiry-into-medical-evidence-in-ontario-s-courts-and-tribunals (these
signatures are also important to make our point elsewhere and it gives
those on-line the power and opportunity to use their voice)
Source: http://www.fairassociation.ca/
FAIR has put together a paper version of the petition calling for a Public Inquiry into the medical evidence used in our courts and administrative tribunals. It is the same as the one we have asked you to sign online.
The Ontario Legislature ONLY accepts ORIGINAL petitions, on paper, with ‘hand signed’ signatures. There are strict rules for petitions so NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh’s office has generously agreed to receive the paper petition in his office and present it at Queen’s Park.
If you or a loved one were injured in an auto accident, at work or elsewhere wouldn’t you want an honest, unbiased and qualified medical opinion/report of your injuries? That’s just not happening in Ontario for injured and disabled individuals who make a claim for benefits through their private or public insurers. What if it was your fault that something happens to someone else? You’d want them to have the best chance at recovery wouldn’t you?
Please print, sign and circulate the petition because quality and qualified medical evidence shouldn’t be something we need – it should be something we already have because there is no real justice without it.
Make a copy and mail the ORIGINAL copies to: MPP Jagmeet Singh, Room 172 Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park 111 Wellesley St. Toronto, ON M7A 1A5
Thanks for being part of the collective voice needed for change!
Source: http://www.fairassociation.ca/
Auto insurance changes
Auto insurance changes with @IBAOntario and Jokelee Vanderkop http://www.zoomerradio.ca/show/fight-back-on-zoomer-radio/michael-brattman-jokelee-vandekop-june-1/ …
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