If you reside in Alberta, you may have heard that you can qualify for Section B policy coverage, should you happen to get involved in an automobile accident. Did you understand the meaning of your access to such coverage? It means that under those same circumstances, you would be entitled to no-fault treatment and disability benefits. The money for those particular benefits would come from your insurance company, assuming that you had been driving the damaged vehicle.
Are drivers the only residents of Alberta that can enjoy Section B coverage?
No, if a motored vehicle were to hit a pedestrian, that same pedestrian could seek treatment and disability benefits from the driver’s insurance company. Similarly, if a motored vehicle were to hit someone on a bicycle, the cyclist could seek coverage from the driver’s insurer.
What process must the injured victim follow, in order to get Section B coverage?
The victim must see a doctor as soon as possible and report all known symptoms. Then the victim must complete the Notice of Loss and the Proof of Claim forms. Once completed, those two forms should be submitted to the designated insurer. While the victim takes the time to fill out those forms, the doctor also needs to take care of some paperwork. The physician must complete a treatment plan. That treatment plan then gets sent to the insurance company, the one that has received the victim’s forms. It is important that the personal injury lawyer in Spruce Grove is hired to represent the victim’s rights.
Timeframes specified in the Section B policy
One timeframe concerns the deadline for the victim’s submission of the Notice of Loss and Proof of Claim. Any victim with a strain, sprain or whiplash injury has to meet the earlier deadline: submit both forms to insurer no more than 10 days after the accident. Any victims that have suffered a different type of injury should submit their forms no more than 30 days after the accident.
Regardless of the nature of the victim’s injuries, the victim must add another form to the two mentioned, when sending materials to the insurance company. That additional form is a Claim for Disability, which can be obtained from the treating doctor. The doctor’s treatment plan also has a timeframe. It can cover a period that is no longer than 2 years.
Limitations on victims’ coverage
Victims must stay below a set figure, when seeking reimbursement for out-of-protocol expenses. In those cases where a patient has received services from a chiropractor, the coverage for such visits would not exceed $750. In those instances where a patient received a massage or an acupuncture treatment, the coverage would not exceed $250. Moreover, the cost of the 2-year treatment protocol should not exceed $50,000. When necessary, a patient could request an extended treatment and then send any receipts to the designated, extended healthcare providers. Later, if that same patient were to exhaust the available, extended health care benefits, he or she would need to send any receipts to the insurer.