Residents of Alberta enjoy the opportunity to request Section B benefits, after being in a car accident. Such benefits become available to any driver that was insured under an automobile insurance policy. That private company must cover certain collision-linked expenses, regardless of who was at-fault.
Expenses covered
The costs of the driver’s medical care. The insurer may need to pay the maximum amount, $50,000.00. The death and disability benefit, which supplements any benefit provided by an employer. There is a one week waiting period before the payments start. A disabled employee receives 80% of his or her earnings or $400 per week. Those weekly payments continue for up to 2 years. If it applies, a special benefit for an accident that took place outside of Alberta, in a no-fault jurisdiction.
There are procedures to be used by anyone that hopes to take advantage of the benefits’ existence. You need to visit a primary health practitioner as soon as possible. Do this even if you seem to lack any injuries.
File an accident report with the police. Your insurance company will contact the police, in order to obtain that particular accident report. Complete form AB-1. A completed form should include a Notice of Loss and Proof of Claim. Make a copy and keep it; send original to your insurance company.Complete the Form AB-1A, if requesting disability benefits. Keep a copy and send the original to your car insurance company.
Have your health practitioner complete AB-2. The completed form should include the treatment plan. The practitioner should make a copy and send the original to the driver’s car insurance company. Later, the insurance company will look for proof that the driver followed the doctor’s treatment plan. The sign a Release of Information Authorization. This gives your insurance company permission to share your personal information. By submitting that form, you ensure processing of your claim.
A word of warning
At some point, an injured driver could be contacted by the adjuster from the other driver’s insurance company. That same adjuster might ask to receive some of the information that has been placed in the medical records of the injured victim. Such records should not be placed before the adjuster’s eyes.
So, how should the approached victim frame a negative response to the adjuster’s request? The inquiring adjuster should be told that such information can be obtained by contacting the lawyer hired by that same injured victim. Later, once negotiations have begun, the approached injury lawyer in Medicine Hat could remind the adjuster that he or she has failed to follow the established procedure. Then, the lawyer’s negotiating skills could be used to take advantage of the adjuster’s overzealous quest for information.