There are now about two weeks left before Ontario’s automobile reforms take place, bringing in sweeping changes to the first-party accident benefits available to consumers. Unfortunately, there is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding their implementation. On balance, it appears to be a better piece of legislation than what we had previously – for now, until the next government and the next set of reforms. However, this does (hopefully) provide a good deal more strength for the insurers, and the ability for an adjuster to say “NO!”, which we have been longing for.
Uncertainty on the sales side
I have a friend who works with the brokers and agents for a major auto insurer, and he and I have been talking all summer about what has been happening on their end. The frustration of the agents on how much time is being spent on the reforms and trying to sell the new enhanced benefits, without many takers. At the pricing of the enhanced benefits given the somewhat eye-popping pricing for most of them. At most people balking at the enhanced benefits given not only the price, but the perceived need. Given the general reaction, why was the bill ever put in place that allowed the ridiculous benefits anyway? Why would we possibly think that non-Catastrophic injuries might possibly need more than $50,000 or, to be generous, $75,000 in rehabilitation benefits? I think the majority of consumers are quietly thinking that this has been “right-sized” once it is explained to them, and probably leave wondering how the system got so bloated to begin with.
Uncertainty with the transition period
Many of the new changes, given the opportunity to buy enhanced benefits and the price reduction on the policies with the new benefits, only take place on policy renewal. However, some of the changes to the legislation take place immediately – changes doing away with some forms, with some benefits, how some calculations are made, etc. This is an extremely complex legislation that is taking the place of another extremely complex piece of legislation, and having varying implementation dates. This leads, quite frankly, to some pretty nebulous interpretations of how things are going to work moving forward.
I’ve had discussions with various lawyers, with our team who are reviewing this for us, and with many folks within the industry, and the general answer is: “we’ll see”. I will be having my staff going to a lot of seminars in the next couple of months until the transition piece is more ingrained. Until then, there are going to be a lot of “whatifs” floating around – something that never makes me feel comfortable given the timelines we have to deal with.
Better decision making by adjusters
I’ve always felt that being an adjuster is a profession, and should be more than simply processing paper. Unfortunately that is a lot of what our folks were doing over the past several years while handling accident benefits in Ontario. Our profession deserved better than that, and this gives us more decision-making power.
It has done away with many of the ridiculous assessments we used to see – requests for nutritional counselling, driving instruction, electromagnetic alignments, gait analysis – for very minor Whiplash Associated Disorder claims. It has done away with the mindless paperwork of some forms, just to remain in compliance. It has provided more reasonable timelines with more realistic respect for adjusters’ workloads. And it has provided a much clearer path for adjusters to do what they really want to do – help legitimately injured people to get back to work.
The great unknown
The problem with all of the above is that we know where some of the challenges in the new system will be coming to us. The attempts to include a significant psychological exposure in many claims will be numerous, to try to extend the benefits beyond the basic limits. Plaintiffs’ counsel have already been holding seminars on how to “maximize the $50,000”. There will be ongoing challenges to how to calculate the income replacement benefits.
Our adjusters, however, will be better equipped to deal with these issues. They will have more time to review each claim, and spend less time processing paper. They are professionals. They are strong proponents for their companies and clients. They want to help people get better. This bill will hopefully take a step, however small, to let them be less bureaucratic and have more autonomy to do just that.
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