‘We’ve been clear, nothing is off the table,’ says Nate Horner, Premier Danielle Smith’s point man on auto insurance
I don’t know if Nate Horner plays cards but he sure knows the value of having an ace in the hole.
And when it comes to wrangling with insurance companies, the ace in the hole is the prospect of public auto insurance.
Horner, Premier Danielle Smith’s budget boss and point man on insurance, makes things plain which is no surprise if you know the straight talker.
“We’ve been clear, nothing is off the table.”
But a question remained.
If there was a new private insurance set-up cutting costs for insurance outfits how could the Alberta government make sure those companies would pass on the savings to us and reduce premiums?
After all, let’s just say insurance companies are not high on the list of those we trust.
That’s where the ace in the hole comes into the picture.
Horner, a free enterpriser, says public insurance in Alberta is “very unlikely” and then tacks on the words “as a first step.”
Those are important words.
You see, the ball could well end up in the insurance industry’s court.
This guy riding herd on insurance points out a report when Premier Jason Kenney was running the show did not have every insurance possibility on the table.
It did not include a government-delivered form of vehicle insurance.
That’s not true now.
So here is how it goes.
Albertans want lower insurance premiums. The Alberta government is looking at a no-fault private insurance system with an option so rates come down to a level where Albertans would know it and feel it.
Horner thinks no-fault is a terrible term. A more accurate term is no-sue.
A recent independent look-see now in the hands of the Smith crew found a no-fault or no-sue system delivered by private companies could reduce average premiums in the neighbourhood of $400 a year.
Horner has a message for insurers.
“If this is the way we go and they can’t deliver the product they’ll know we have other steps we can take that would not involve them.
“They will have to deliver.
“If they can’t deliver then the delivery model will be the next thing.”
Ouch.
“I’m very hesitant to go down that path but I think the insurance companies will have to know once we take the first step then the second step would be easier so they better work with us and the rate board,” says Horner.
“They definitely know the lens we’re looking through is the lens of affordability. We feel Albertans are paying too much.”
The province’s Automobile Insurance Rate Board regulates the vehicle insurance rates.
No decisions on auto insurance have been made, that will be sometime in the fall.
If the province goes with a private insurance system looking something like what they have in public-insurance Saskatchewan but run by companies here, people would be able to pick between a policy where they are able to sue or not, going to court perhaps only in very limited cases.
The no-sue premium would obviously be cheaper.
Horner says choice is important to Albertans.
Horner also says if the province opted for no-fault the schedule of benefits for injured drivers would have to be very clear and the system would have to be focused on getting that care quicker.
There would have to be appropriate benefits for someone who can become healthy again as well as for those folks who can’t fully recover.
Horner thinks just putting a cap on rates is not the answer as a cap is not actually reflecting the costs to insurance companies and is putting pressure on the system.
“Some of our short-term measures are probably making it worse.”
Still, Horner doesn’t “want to sound like anything is baked in here.”
Not yet.
He says the chinwagging with injury lawyers is not over.
“They think they have some really nuanced ways to take costs out of the system that don’t mean going to a no-fault option.”
One thing is certain for this man on the auto insurance file.
“We can’t just chisel away at the edges. We’re going to need to fundamentally change what’s happening here or be stuck in this kind of chaos where companies are leaving and people still aren’t happy.
“We’re going to have to come to some kind of a bigger conclusion.
“If there was a silver bullet we would have done it.”