In 2014-15
894,954 individuals were dependent on Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program
http://www.canadasocialreport.ca/SocialAssistanceSummaries/ON.pdf
News and Views
Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) Rules of Practice and Procedure, Version 1 (April 1, 2016)
LAT adjudicates matters in a variety of diverse areas such as alcohol and gaming regulation, motor vehicle impoundments and driver’s licences, new home warranties, consumer protection, regulation of various occupations and businesses, and starting on April 1, 2016, in relation to automobile insurance Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) disputes.
Information about LAT’s Automobile Accident Benefits Service (AABS) is available here: www.slasto.gov.on.ca/en/AABS
2.3 “AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT BENEFITS SERVICE (AABS) CLAIM” “Automobile Accident Benefits Service (AABS) Claim” means an application to the Tribunal pursuant to s. 280(2) of the Insurance Act seeking resolution of a dispute involving statutory accident benefits.
2.23 “STATUTORY ACCIDENT BENEFITS SCHEDULE (SABS)” “SABS” means the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, Ontario Regulation 34/10 (Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule—Effective September 1, 2010), made under the Insurance Act, as revised from time to time, or a previous version of the SABS.
INFO: http://ow.ly/103AM9
FAIR submission to CPSO re transparency
For many auto accident victims their biggest obstacle to recovery is the CPSO members who are the third party vendors of medical opinion evidence for Ontario’s auto insurers. Whether it is auto insurance MVA claims, WSIB claims, Long Term Disability claims or Canada Pension Plan Disability claims, what Ontario’s medical opinion ‘experts’ say in their reports and testimony can have a profoundly negative effect on recovery outcomes for very seriously injured individuals.
Automobile Insurance Dispute Resolution System Transformation Project Update – November 26, 2015
Safety, Licensing Appeals and Standards Tribunals Ontario (SLASTO) is providing regular updates about the transformation of the Auto Insurance Dispute Resolution System (AIDRS) and its transition from the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT).
The new system at LAT will begin accepting applications on April 1, 2016. The LAT AIDRS will be streamlined to a single direct review and hearing process in front of an independent adjudicative tribunal.
Ontario’s Shame and Scandal – how the injured and disabled are punished by government policy
Victim’s group calls for the Auditor General and the Ontario Ombudsman to investigate what is happening to Ontario’s injured and disabled citizens
TORONTO, November 17, 2015 PRESS RELEASE – Ontario auto insurers are poised to make higher profits on the backs of Ontario’s disabled and injured MVA victims in 2016 while continuing to build up the provincial deficit by downloading the expense of victims to the taxpayers. Recently passed legislation means that coverage for the most injured MVA victims will be cut in half.
In October Ontario’s over 9 million drivers learned through the Lazar Prisman Report that they had been overcharged for auto insurance and likely overpaid by $1.5 billion in the last two years alone.
In recent weeks we learned just how challenging recovery is and how poorly the WSIB injured workers are treated in the Prescription Over-Ruled: Report on How Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Systematically Ignores the Advice of Medical Professionals. Press release Nov 2016 Ontario’s Shame and Scandal – how the injured and disabled are punished by government policy
Licensed Appeal Tribunal reply to FAIR
“We consciously did not choose advocates for one point of view or another.”
OTLA: Updated study shows Ontario auto insurance is “fundamentally broken”
TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2015 /CNW/ – An updated study released today provides alarming new data on auto insurance in Ontario.
The study, conducted by York University Schulich School of Business Professors Fred Lazar and Eli Prisman, reveals that consumers likely overpaid by $1.5 billion in the last two years alone. This includes overpayments of $700 million (or about $100 for each insurance policy) in 2014 on top of the $840 million ($120 per policy) in 2013.
Read: Lazar Report October 2015
Orillia woman involved in serious collision slams province’s planned changes to insurance industry
An Orillia woman who was in a car crash seven years ago that left her in a coma worries changes to the auto-insurance industry will have devastating effects.
Tammy Kirkwood said the province’s plan to reduce auto-insurance benefits that was passed as part of the budget earlier this year will severely hurt crash victims requiring extensive care.
“These benefits should not be called benefits; they are resources and necessary to regain your whole person and get on track,” she said.
“We are mandated to purchase auto insurance to drive a car, yet there is nothing in place to mandate the insurers to uphold the policy we have to purchase.”
Starting off the License Appeal Tribunal for MVA victims – already slanted to favor auto insurers?
The LAT update says “The Advisory Committee members represent groups that have an interest in the areas of law, business, government, consumer groups and the insurance industry” but the reality is that the Committee is composed of insurer defence lawyers and legal experts and consultants without any presence of consumers or MVA victims or those who represent them. This is unacceptable when such uneven and unfair weighting of the Committee appears to favour Ontario’s insurance industry while totally ignoring Ontario’s consumers and MVA victims. http://www.slasto.gov.on.ca/en/Documents/What%20New-EN/AIDRS%20Project%20Update%20-%20FSCO%20Forums%20-%20EN.pdf
FAIR letter to the Attorney General re LAT advisory panel Sept 30 2015
Auto Insurance Dispute Resolution System (AIDRS) Project Update
Transfer of Automobile Insurance Dispute Resolution System The Government announced in the 2014 Budget a series of auto insurance reforms, one of which was the transformation of the Auto Insurance Dispute Resolution System and its transfer to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), an adjudicative tribunal within the Safety, Licensing Appeals and Standards Tribunals Ontario (SLASTO) cluster. In the 2015 Budget, the Government announced the new Auto Insurance Dispute Resolution System at LAT will begin accepting applications on April 1, 2016.