The Insurance Commission of Western Australia (ICWA) is a statutory corporation and Government Trading Enterprise owned by the Western Australian Government. ICWA provides funding for medical treatment and compensation to those who have met with an injury in an accident in which a motor vehicle is involved.
Insurance Claims Process
If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident and wish to make a claim, call the Insurance Commission directly on +61 8 9264 3333. The Insurance Commission will provide you with a Notice of Intention to Make a Claim Form (Claim Form) and a Medical Authority. The Medical Authority form is required to enable the Insurance Commission to access all your medical records including those before your accident. If you are not comfortable about signing the Medical Authority form you may contact us for advice. Generally you need to complete these two forms and return them to the Insurance Commission before your claim can be accepted and your medical expenses are paid for by the Insurance Commission.
Who Can Make A Claim?
You may be able to make a compensation claim if you were injured in a motor vehicle crash, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. You are also able to lodge a claim if a close relative was fatally injured and you were financially dependent on them or dependent upon the services they provided to you. A close relative includes a de facto partner with whom you were living at the time of death and had been so living for at least 2 years immediately beforehand.
Apart from claims involving catastrophic injuries, for a successful claim you must be able to prove that the driver or owner of the motor vehicle was at fault. You can still claim if you were partly at fault in a crash but your compensation may be reduced such as if you were travelling too fast. Your compensation may also be reduced if you were not wearing a seat belt or not wearing a helmet while riding a motorbike, scooter or bicycle.
What Can You Claim?
If you were injured in a motor vehicle crash then you may be able to claim compensation payments for the following:
- Treatment and Support: The treatment and support service allows you to make a claim for emergency transport from the crash scene to the hospital, hospital services, nursing services, medical services, x-rays and medical aids. The ICWA will pay for the medical treatment and any sort of medical help required, even for travelling to and from medical and other appointments.
- Economic Loss: The ICWA covers the compensation cost for your loss of capacity to earn for the period you are unable to work due to your injuries from the crash. You would need to send information to the ICWA to support your economic loss claim. You are also entitled to claim for partial incapacity such as when you are only fit to work part time hours.
- Pain and Suffering: The ICWA can pay compensation for pain and suffering and other general damaged arising from your crash. To assess the claim, your injuries need to be assessed at a certain level of severity as thresholds apply.
- Dependency Claims:You may be able to claim compensation if you are a relative of the person fatally injured and you were financially dependent on that person or dependent upon their services. You are generally able to claim funeral and headstone expenses, loss of financial benefit provided by the deceased and loss of services provided by the deceased.
How to File a Claim?
If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident and wish to make a claim then call the Insurance Commission on 08 9264 3333. You need to fill in the Notice of Intention to Make a Claim Form and a Medical Authority and return them to ICWA for your claim to be processed.
Claims must be logged as soon as practicable after the crash. If anyone was injured or killed in the accident then the owners and drivers of the vehicle/s in the crash are required to report the crash online. You can report the crash online by using the Online Crash Reporting Form. You must provide ICWA with crash details including the time, date, location of the crash and injuries sustained. Passengers, pedestrians and cyclists injured in a motor vehicle crash in WA also need to report their injuries through the Online Crash Reporting Form.
It is important to submit your claim promptlyafter the accident as if you do not you may be precluded from claiming due to restrictions set by the Limitation Act 2005.
Once ICWA receives your Notice of Intention to Make a Claim Form or Claim Form and Medical Authority and the owner or driver’s Online Crash Report Form, it will write to you (or your lawyer if you have appointed one) acknowledging their receipt and you will be supplied with a claim reference number.
The Claim Reference Number is a 6 digit number which may be quoted to treatment providers so that the costs of their services may be billed directly to the Insurance Commission. These services include medical treatment, dental treatment, medications, physiotherapy etc.
Additional enquiries and investigations of the crash may occur before the Insurance Commission decides whether to accept your claim which is often referred to as determining liability for your claim.
Once your claim is accepted the Insurance Commission will pay all your reasonably incurred medical expenses. If you are uncertain what is and what is not reasonably incurred medical expenses you may contact us.
Getting help from a legal representative
To file a claim, you can legally engage a specialist injury lawyer to do it for you and get the right advice for your case. A specialist injury lawyer will be able to guide you through the claims process and will give you legal advice and assistance to maximise the value of your claim.
How can we help?
We are personal injury lawyers, based in Perth, WA and provide legal advice on compensation claims. Our experienced senior injury lawyers can help with all types of the compensation claims. Call us and get a free initial consultation.