If the NDP wins the provincial election expected this spring,
Nova Scotians may finally get something they badly need—public auto
insurance. Let’s hope so because the present privately run system is
the shits. Nova Scotians pay among the highest insurance rates in the
country, but get the lowest accident benefits. And as car crash victims
soon learn, it’s easy to get bogged down in a bureaucratic,
time-consuming claims system that treats victims with similar injuries
very differently. Just ask Rene Ballesteros. The 50-year-old group-home
worker is suing RBC Insurance, his huge, profitable, Ontario-based
insurance company, for refusing to pay for physiotherapy treatments.
Ballesteros suffers from the debilitating neck and back pain that
resulted after his car was sideswiped by a Metro Transit bus in
November 2007. He has been unable to work since the accident.
His case follows an all-too-familiar pattern known as the “duelling
doctors syndrome.” A medical specialist hired by the insurance company
decided Ballesteros didn’t need physiotherapy and recommended exercise
instead. The doctor had already treated him for back pain several years
earlier. However, Ballesteros’s family doctor referred him to a second
specialist who called for physiotherapy. Ballesteros exhausted his Blue
Cross benefits paying for treatments and felt his condition was
improving. The insurance company paid for a few more treatments, but
stopped after the first specialist said Ballesteros didn’t need them.
He says it also stopped reimbursing him for lost wages. Ballesteros,
now deep in debt, is trying to control his pain with prescription drugs
paid for by Blue Cross. He shakes his head at the different treatment
his 19-year-old son got after being injured in a separate auto
accident. His son, insured by another company, had no problem getting
full coverage for physiotherapy.
Pardon the pun, but the hassle involved in getting insurance
companies to pay for physiotherapy is a sore point for many accident
victims. A spokesperson for the insurance industry acknowledges that
companies have a “preferred list” for physiotherapists. Clinics on the
list often offer a few weeks of exercise under the supervision of a
fitness trainer. Accident victims who choose hands-on treatment from a
physiotherapist not on the preferred list can be out of luck. Their
insurance company may refuse to cover the treatments or it may require
them to pay out of pocket and wait months to get reimbursed. And it’s
not easy fighting the big companies when you’re in pain and
destitute.
Yes, Nova Scotia’s car insurance regulations practically guarantee a
life of poverty if you’re unable to work after a car accident. Under
the standard auto policy, partially disabled accident victims get a
maximum of $140 a week for two years. If they’re totally disabled, it’s
$140 a week for life. Just try living on $7,280 per year, especially if
you aren’t covered by a long-term disability plan at work. Provinces
with public auto insurance are much more generous. Both Manitoba and
Saskatchewan, for example, pay 90 percent of net wages up to a maximum
gross annual income of between $65,000 and $71,000.
Public auto insurance was introduced in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and
BC by NDP governments, not by Conservatives or Liberals who
consistently champion private insurance and the big companies that
profit handsomely from it. Look what happened in 2003, when a minority
Conservative government faced political heat because the companies were
jacking up rates and refusing to renew people’s insurance. Instead of
bringing in a public system, the Tories, with support from the
Liberals, gave in to the company blackmail by imposing a $2,500 payment
cap on so-called “minor” injuries. Insurance rates did fall slightly,
but Nova Scotians are still paying more than in provinces with a public
plan. I say it’s time to ditch our costly, unjust and excessively
stingy private system and go with public auto instead. If the NDP does
get elected, they’d better live up to their promise.
Do you support public insurance? Let me know at
brucew@thecoast.ca.
Related Stories
Painful insurance rulings
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2009.
I’m dreading the inevitable NDP Government except for the possibility of public auto insurance. Having lived in BC for many years, it’s honestly a fantastic idea and should be implemented.
It will be a good thing only if ICBC actually runs it. The mind boggles at how badly the provincial govt bureaucracy could screw this one up.
the provincial government in Manitoba does just fine carrying the burden, and they do a pretty solid job, without having it passed onto a semi-private company like ICBC. It’s kinda a brave new world if we do, but I don’t think Dexter has the stones to do something so revolutionary.