Passage of Bill 15 represents a step towards responsible insurance cost reductions by tackling fraud, says one broker association president.
Chris Floyd, the President of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (
IBAO) was pleased with the Ontario government’s recent passing of Bill 15, The Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2014.
“On behalf of the six million policyholder’s our brokers represent province-wide, IBAO is happy to see the passage of Bill 15,” said Floyd. “This is a good step towards the responsible reduction in insurance costs by fighting fraud.”
When fully implemented, this Bill should help reduce the cost of auto insurance rates for Ontario consumers and improve access to justice with a more effective dispute resolution process, Floyd pointed out.
Bill 15 specifically will tackle the issue of auto insurance fraud by:
• Transforming the Dispute Resolution System to help injured Ontario drivers settle disputed claims faster. The new system will put an end to the chronic backlogs. There are over 10,000 cases backlogged in the arbitration system. The new system intends to hear and decide a case within six months from start to finish;
• Reduce the amount of time a vehicle can be stored, accruing charges, after an accident without notice to the driver from 60 days to a shorter timeframe; and
• Regulate the towing and vehicle storage industries through measures that tackle questionable practices.
“The faster fraud can be tackled, the faster premiums can be lowered for Ontario drivers,” saidd Floyd. “It’s essential these reforms are done responsibly and effectively.”
A consistently dissenting voice has come from the group FAIR (the fair association of victims for accident insurance reform), which feels that the provision within Bill 15 for reducing the Prejudgment Interest to 1.3 per cent will only serve to encourage insurers to dispute more claims.
“There needs to be more accountability, not less,” FAIR’s board chair Rhona DesRoches told Insurance Business. “Without anything to discourage them, insurers will be incentivized to systematically deny claims through the use of partisan medical reports prepared by their preferred medico-legal ‘expert’ assessors to deflate a claim.
“All because, for some unknown reason, it’s generally believed that honest and unbiased medical assessments of accident victims is a bad thing.”
