Atlantic task force rejects public auto

A task force established by Atlantic Canada’s premiers has come out against implementing public auto insurance in the region. The “Atlantic Insurance Harmonization Task Force” found “no significant reason to transform the private enterprise delivery system to a government monopoly supplier”.The findings were released Friday as part of a report on auto insurance in the region and how the provinces might work together to address issues of affordability and availability.The task force concluded that public auto would not produce long-term rate savings for consumers, and that this position is backed up by other studies on public auto conducted from 1968 to 1996 in other regions.What the task force is advocating is to rethink the product design of auto insurance, and in this vein it supports the insurance industry’s long-held stance that rising bodily injury costs are to blame for rising rates. The task force concludes, “The real issues are two: how the majority of traffic injured can come to terms with reasonable reduction of their compensation so that Atlantic Canadians can afford the cost of basic mandatory automobile insurance and how motorists can come to acceptance of the realistic and reasonable cost of insurance to pay for the injuries caused by insured motorists?”The report advocates reducing tort components of auto insurance as much as possible while still providing reasonable compensation. And it recommends the Atlantic provinces consolidate rating processes and personnel to achieve economies of scale, as well as having one insurance regulator. The task force also wants to see a harmonized regulatory review board in place permanently.