Auto insurance cap should be changed

A group looking into New Brunswick's auto insurance system is being told the program should be completely changed, not just tweaked.

The New Brunswick Auto Insurance Working Group held public hearings across the province on whether the $2,500 cap on benefits for soft-tissue injuries should be increased and if the definition of minor injuries should be made clearer.

At the last meeting held in Fredericton Wednesday night, there were calls to follow the lead of Newfoundland which deducts $2,500 from all insurance claims — no matter what the injury or the size of the payment.

Paula Colter has spent the past two years in pain, both physical and emotional, following a motor vehicle accident that wasn't her fault.

She told the working group that the current system is unfair.

Colter said she's been frustrated and angry at the treatment she's received from the insurance industry, which insists her injuries don't qualify for more than the cap.

"It just feels like you're being victimized twice," she said. "It's not a good system. It's not a good system."

Colter said the Newfoundland insurance program is fairer.

Fredericton lawyer George MacAllister agreed that when the insurance cap system was brought in to reduce premiums, it was applied unfairly.

"Why are the victims — not all victims, but only some victims — being asked to bear the burden of low premiums?" he asked.

Michel Leger, chairman of the working group, said his mandate is to look at the cap and the definition of injuries, although the final report will likely include comments on a deductible auto insurance system.

The cap on court-ordered awards was a product of the former Progressive Conservative government's auto insurance reforms in 2003.