In August, the Ontario government passed a regulation that increased the mandatory deductible for no-fault pain and suffering claims from $30,000 to $36,540, and one law expert feels that this was done “without any debate or meaningful notice.”
“There’s no other area of law where such a deductible applies,” writes media law professor and former lawyer Alan Shanoff in the
Toronto Sun. “It only occurs in auto accident cases.”
Shanoff also points out that this amendment to the
Insurance Act is but one negative in the double whammy handed consumers this year; the deductible’s threshold was also raised. Motor vehicle accident victims now need to pay a deductible to insurance companies if their claim does not exceed $121,799, whereas they were previously only subject to it for claims under $100,000.
The columnist believes this policy skews in favor of the industry, much to the dismay of auto accident victims. Still, some brokers have argued that the industry may actually see the size of court-awarded claims increase as plaintiffs seek to win damages that bring them up above the new higher deductible thresholds. The fear is that could, in fact, increase deductibles across the board.
“How nice for the insurance industry,” he writes. “Take money from deserving accident victims and give it to insurance companies.
He continues to advocate for the government to “abolish” the deductible, arguing that the province’s requirement that victims demonstrate a severe impairment will automatically disregard any negligible claims.
"There's no principled reason to apply a deductible," he argues.
