Section B in Newfoundland and Labrador Is Optional

Section B in Newfoundland and Labrador is optional coverage. That difference separates the province from the rest of Atlantic Canada, where the accident benefits are compulsory in every standard automobile policy. Insurers must offer it, and a policyholder can decline it. Most policies carry it, but the first thing to establish after a crash is whether yours does.

Whether Section B in Newfoundland Is on Your Policy

Look at the coverage summary or declaration page of the policy, which lists each coverage purchased and its limit. Section B appears there by name where it was bought. If the page is not to hand, your broker or the insurer can confirm it in a phone call, and the confirmation should be requested in writing. Do not rely on an assumption that all policies include it, because that assumption is what makes people miss the notice deadline.

What the Benefits Pay When the Coverage Was Purchased

Where Section B was bought, it works the way it works elsewhere in the region: medical and rehabilitation expenses that provincial health insurance does not cover, a death benefit and funeral allowance for dependants, and a weekly income benefit during total disability. The limits attached to the coverage are lower than most people expect, and both the medical maximum and the weekly income maximum come from the policy form rather than from a published benefits schedule. Which insurer answers when more than one policy could is set out in who pays Section B.

What Fills the Gap When It Was Not Purchased

Without Section B there is no no-fault payment for treatment, and the cost of physiotherapy and medication falls on you until a tort claim resolves. What remains is provincial health coverage, an employer’s extended health plan, Employment Insurance sickness benefits, a group long-term disability policy, and the claim against the driver at fault. That claim is the only route to the treatment costs themselves, which makes the timing of the tort claim more important here than in the other three provinces.

The Claim Against the at-Fault Driver

The tort claim proceeds the same way it does elsewhere, and where Section B was paid, the income benefits are deducted from any loss of income award, as the guide’s opening chapter explains. Newfoundland and Labrador also applies a deductible set by regulation to general damages awards in automobile claims, addressed on the Newfoundland car accident page. The mandatory position in the neighbouring provinces is in Section B in Nova Scotia.

Where the Rule Comes From

The optional status comes from the province’s automobile insurance legislation and the standard policy approved under it, not from the wording of any individual insurer’s contract. The statutes and the decisions applying them are on CanLII’s Newfoundland and Labrador collection. The injury law areas hub lists every claim type the firm handles.