This is the second entry in our Accidents Benefits series. You can find the first entry here where we discuss the basic changes the Provincial Government made to the accident benefits portion of Ontario auto policies during the 2016 auto reform.

Today, we’re going to shine the spotlight on one of the optional coverages available to policyholders for purchase: the Medical, Rehabilitation & Attendant Care benefit.

 

What does it cover?

The Medical and Rehabilitation benefit provides coverage for reasonable and necessary medication and rehabilitation expenses that are not covered under OHIP or group insurance plans. An example would be physiotherapy expenses. The Attendant Care benefit provides coverage for an attendant to look after you either at home or within a healthcare facility.

Each of these coverages have two separate limits; one for non-catastrophic injuries such as sprains, whiplash or broken bones, and one for catastrophic injuries such as loss of a limb or quadriplegia. The severity of your injuries determines which limits you have access to.

 

What changed?

Prior to the 2016 auto reform, the limits for Medical, Rehabilitation & Attendant Care were:

Non-catastrophic injuries

Medical & Rehabilitation: $50,000

Attendant Care: $36,000

Catastrophic Injuries

Medical & Rehabilitation: $1,000,000

Attendant Care: $1,000,000

After the 2016 reform, the limits for these coverages now look like this:

Non-catastrophic injuries

Medical, Rehabilitation & Attendant Care: $65,000 total

Catastrophic Injuries

Medical, Rehabilitation & Attendant Care: $1,000,000 total

These coverages have been combined and lumped into one, lower limit.

 

What are your options?

Policyholders have three options to increase their protection under the Medical, Rehabilitation & Attendant Care coverage:

  1. Increase your non-catastrophic injury limit to $130,000
  2. Increase your catastrophic injury limit to $2,000,000
  3. Increase your non-catastrophic injury limit to $1,000,000 and your catastrophic injury limit to $2,000,000

If you purchase coverage option 3, your total eligible limit for catastrophic injury becomes $3,000,000.

We are highly recommending that all our policyholders purchase the optional benefit 3 listed above as the base policy limits simply don’t provide adequate coverage.

Contact your broker today to discuss your level of coverage and the options available to you. Don’t wait until you’ve had an accident to find out that you don’t have the coverage you need.