[troutman]

There are really two main arguments ACTLA is going to make at the AIRB Hearings. One is against the insurer’s windfall profits; the other is against the government’s hidden tax on insurance premiums. That’s right. The government rakes in more cash when insurance premiums go higher. [info from my partner who specializes in this area]

Letter to the Editor, Edmonton Journal:

Auto insurance review


The Edmonton Journal


Saturday, June 07, 2008


Alberta's Automobile Insurance Rate Board is holding its annual public hearing this month to consider adjusting auto insurance rates.

Last year's hearing, as usual, primarily consisted of insurance companies lobbying for a hike. Only one entity in our sleepy one-party state bothered to argue that a premium increase wasn't necessary -- that's right, yours truly. And to its credit, the AIRB held the line on rates.

This year, I fear a possible replay of the scheme perpetrated on Albertans a few years ago: that, despite a sharp decline in injury claim frequency rates, insurers will try to jack up premiums by about 25 per cent, and Alberta Finance will then "decrease the rate of increase" by regulating reductions in victims' pain and suffering compensation.

Maybe the Tories will trade their illegal cap for a deductible (paid by victims) and call it "change that works."
The result: higher premiums and lower victim compensation for Alberta motorists, and insurance companies continuing to laugh all the way to the bank.

If the Stelmach government really gives a tinker's damn about vulnerable Albertans, it can reduce rates for good drivers without gutting victim compensation, by trimming the outrageous windfall profits reaped by insurance companies over the past few years.

Scrapping the hidden insurance premium tax would also provide significant rate relief for Alberta motorists.
I'll put those submissions, and others, to the AIRB later this month.

Mark McCourt,
Edmonton