April 30, 2013- Ontario will force auto insurance companies to cut rates by an average
of 15%, provincial Finance Minister Charles Sousa said Tuesday.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath wanted a 15% reduction in auto rates within a
year as one step needed to secure her support for Thursday's budget to
be unveiled by Ontario's minority Liberal government.
In our judgment there is a possibility Insurance Companies are going to benefit financially from this political power play while Injured Motorists will continue to suffer from further cutbacks. Apparently, the government's auto insurance strategy involves several initiatives to
decrease costs, such as giving the Financial Services Commission of
Ontario the authority to oversee and license health clinics and
practitioners who invoice auto insurers. Further, Finance Minister Charles Sousa said that, "This is a very complex issue - we recognize that we have to deal with
the insurance companies, with the issues around fraud, with the clinics,
with legal, with definition of catastrophic (injury), the definition,
for that matter, of minor injuries," Sousa said. "And with areas in
which they don't have as much issues of risk, so that folks up in
Timmins, for example, shouldn't be subsidizing the cost of urban centres
elsewhere in Ontario."
We need to be very afraid. The "complex issues" of rehabilitation services are not fully understood by the politicians involved, indeed.
Published by the Community Services Department of CNI HEALTH SERVICES to disseminate information about rehabilitation services and promote discussion and sharing. John Lepore, Director. Contact: ncnss@rogers.com
