Details On Optional Benefits For Residents of Ontario

Any resident of Ontario has 2 good reasons for considering the possibility of buying optional benefits. Each benefit manages to extend a bit further the scope of the coverage provided by the Province’s Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS). In addition, each optional benefit increases the total amount of money offered by SABS.

Changes that highli ght the value of optional benefits

Before June of 2016, SABS guaranteed a specific level of coverage to any holder of SABS’ insurance, if he or she were involved in a motor vehicle accident. Before June of 2016, the value of such coverage amounted to $50,000, with an additional $36,000 available for attendant care, for those that sustained a minor injury.

Today, though, the holder of SABS’ insurance receives a total of $65,000 for all expenses, if he or she has suffered a minor injury. Changes have also been made in the extent of coverage for catastrophic injuries.

Previously, SABS’ contract called for payment of both medical expenses and attendant care. Today, the SABS’ contract promises a single, fixed payment, as reimbursement for both of those costs. Obviously, the victim of a catastrophic injury can require many hours of attendant care.

How the optional benefits address the changes?

Personal Injury Lawyer in Barrie knows that the policy holder that purchases the optional benefits enjoys the ability to retain the level of coverage that was guaranteed earlier, prior to the alterations made in June of 2016.

Two types of optional benefits

One such benefit simply increases the amount of coverage available to an accident victim that needs financial compensation for a given loss. The losses compensated were covered by an option-lacking policy, but not to the same extent. In other words, the holder of a specific option can get better coverage for the loss associated with that same option.

A second type of benefit does not come with the standard policy. Only a policy holder that has chosen to buy that particular option can enjoy that second benefit. There are 2 benefits that match with the features of that second type (of benefit).

One of those 2 types provide funds for dependent care. As opposed to attendant care, dependent care emphasizes the dependence of the person receiving that care/service on the person that is delivering that same care/service.

The second of the 2 types have a special name: indexation benefit. That uniquely-named benefit goes unmentioned in any standard, option-lacking contract. The indexation benefit addresses the fact that the value of any benefit’s promised payment, regardless of its size, will decrease, as the cost of living increases. In other words, that option guarantees adjustment of any promised payment in a manner that corresponds with the degree to which the cost of living has increased.