The Fair Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform has taken aim at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario’s 2014 Draft Statement of Priorities, describing it as a "Christmas wish list" for insurance companies.
“Where is the protection talked about in this statement? Why are tens of thousands of Ontario’s accident victims lining up for hearings when they’ve been wrongfully denied the benefits they paid for in a time of need?” says Rhona DesRoches, chair of FAIR, in an open letter to Philip Howell, CEO and superintendent of financial services for FSCO. “Over and over the changes to our coverage read like a Christmas wish list for the Insurance Bureau of Canada.”
FAIR had criticized the Ontario government just prior to the election announcement, after it was bumped from its spot on the list of groups to speak on Bill 171. (See
FAIR cries foul over Bill 171 hearings.) At the time, DesRoches criticized a list of “only eight presenters, none of whom speak to the issues of Ontario’s accident victims.”
This time around, Desroches and FAIR have chosen FSCO as their target for what they perceive as a built-in inequality in the insurance claim system.
“The reality of making an auto accident claim in Ontario versus the ‘open and transparent system that protects the public’ that is described on the FSCO website and in this draft statement are two totally different realities,” says DesRoches. Accident victims do not feel protected or that they are being assisted in a ‘fair and open system’ that is looking after their best interests. Half of those who make a claim are unable to access medical rehab and other needed benefits and yet ‘FSCO aims to improve the ways in which it regulates and delivers services to foster consumer protection in the financial services sectors.’” (continued.)
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DesRoches asks Howell why FSCO hasn’t taken any action to protect vulnerable accident victims from predatory assessors.
“FAIR has asked this question many times – we’ve asked the Anti-Fraud Task Force, Justice Cunningham at the DRS review, and our legislators,” says DesRoches. “FSCO is aware that some of Ontario’s regulatory colleges are failing in their duty and yet you are quite willing to rely on this broken system of flawed medical assessments rather than fix this fundamental problem.”
When contacted by
Insurance Business about the open letter, FSCO had this to say:
“As many of the concerns outlined in the FAIR letter relate to changes to legislation, we would like to clarify that any legislative or regulatory changes are led by the Ontario Government, not by FSCO.
“FSCO is accountable to the Minister of Finance, and Section 11 of the FSCO Act requires that FSCO publish in the Ontario Gazette and deliver to the Minister of Finance by June 30 of each year a statement setting out FSCO’s proposed priorities and the reasons for adopting these priorities. As part of this process, FSCO is seeking public input before publishing its proposed priorities for the fiscal year.”
FSCO also stated that its role is to protect the public interest and promote public confidence in the sectors it regulates.
“Under the FSCO Act and the Insurance Act, our responsibilities specific to auto insurance include:
- overseeing how auto insurance is priced;
- approving the rules that companies can and cannot use to refuse to sell insurance to a consumer;
-approving risk classification systems, which insurers use to determine individual consumers’ rates;
- licensing those who sell insurance in Ontario; and
- reviewing complaints against insurance companies and those who work in the insurance industry.”
