After an Alberta driver has been in an auto accident, that same driver may be without a car for a week or more. Still, that loss would seem insignificant, when compared to all the same driver’s other losses. Which of those additional losses gets covered, and to what extent is each of them covered? Those are the two questions that will be addressed in this article.
Coverage for medical expenses
Unless the driver involved in the collision suffered no injuries, he or she should need some medical treatments. Those would cost money. Who would pay for medical expenses of that nature?
First, the driver would have to establish the necessity of the desired treatments. Once that had been proven, the driver’s reimbursement for medical expenses could come from the insurance company of the at-fault driver. The insurance company would be expected to cover as much as $50,000 worth of medical expenses, if necessary. If another driver has caused the accident, then that driver’s insurance company must pay for rehabilitation services, housekeeping, attendant care and other medially-related costs.
What about the loss of income?
Depending on the extent of the driver’s injuries, he or she may not be able to return to the workplace. That would mean a loss of income. How can that loss get compensated?
The driver would need to undergo a medical exam. At that time, it would be determined whether or not the recovering driver could return to work. If he or she remained wholly unable to handle the responsibilities tied to an existing job, the insurance company would need to offer disability benefits.
Such benefits would come in the form or $400 per week or 80% of the driver’s gross salary, whichever of those two was lower. Normally, such disability benefits are meant to cover a brief period away from the job (no more than 2 years). After that, any disabled victim would need to seek long term disability benefits. The victim does not have to return to the job on a full time basis. It could be that the person recovering from an injury had not yet gained enough energy to put in a full day, but still had enough energy to sustain a certain fraction of a workday.
At that point, the injured worker and the employer might want to discuss how long a day any one worker must put in, before becoming eligible for medical benefits. Then the recovering employee could start coming in for part of a day, until he or she felt ready to handle a full day of work.
Could there be other losses?
Unfortunately, the answer to that question is “yes.” The driver or one of the passengers might have died. In that case, the insurance company would have to pay $5,000 for funeral expenses and $400 per person for grief counseling. Additionally, it always helps to have an injury lawyer in St. Albert representing the claim process.