News
Senate PIP reforms get warm reception
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Senate’s plan to reform the no-fault auto insurance program has already achieved what its counterpart in the House has not: unanimous approval from a committee.
Steve Pociask: Protecting Florida’s insurance consumers
For years, Florida’s property insurance crisis has remained unsolved, with an ever-building mountain of unfunded debt obligations building up, driving up consumer costs, creating unnecessary risk and uncertainty, hampering Florida’s economic recovery, and discouraging insurance competition for your business.
Workers’ comp exempt from excess profits law
Workers’ compensation carriers would no longer be required to return “excess profits” to policyholders under a bill approved by the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee Monday afternoon.
PIP System Needs to be Overhauled
Florida’s leaders showed tremendous vision by enacting the first-in-the-nation motor vehicle no-fault laws, which became effective in 1972. Commonly referred to as personal injury protection, the goal was to help accident victims by reducing legal delays, streamline the payment process and provide an automatic pot of money for injured drivers to take care of immediate …
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CAT Fund Needs Immediate Action
For years, Florida’s property-insurance crisis has remained unsolved, with an ever-building mountain of unfunded debt obligations building up, driving up consumer costs, creating unnecessary risk and uncertainty, hampering Florida’s economic recovery and discouraging insurance competition for your business.
House panel votes down bad-faith bill
Plaintiffs’ lawyers eked out a narrow victory over insurance groups on Thursday, as a House committee narrowly defeated a measure intended to curb “bad-faith” lawsuits against insurers.
Scott says PIP program ‘has to be fixed’
TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott is ratcheting up pressure on lawmakers to find agreement on ways to reform the state’s fraud-plagued no-fault auto-insurance law, despite stiff opposition from plaintiffs’ lawyers, medical specialists and consumer groups.
PIP bill moves through one House committee gets pulled from another
The House Civil Justice Subcommittee spent more than two hours early Wednesday morning taking testimony on a personal injury protection (PIP) bill before passing the bill out of committee by a 10-5 vote.
House panel considers PIP insurance overhaul
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A House panel will consider overhauling Florida’s personal-injury insurance that is now overcome with fraud.
Consumer group slams proposed PIP law
Debate is heating up in the Florida Legislature on how to change the personal injury protection (PIP) part of auto insurance coverage. House staffers gave a briefing Monday on their plans, drawing criticism from consumer advocates.
Agencies May Get Citizens’ Policies
They operate outside the safety net that pays claims when insurers fail, are not subject to prompt payment rules and have no limits on rate increases, but surplus lines insurance companies could soon seize tens of thousands of policies from state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. under a bill moving quickly through the Florida Legislature.
Bill to reduce hurricane assessments breezes through Senate panel
Legislation that would all but eliminate regular assessments on homeowners’ policies in the aftermath of a catastrophic storm easily moved through the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Thursday, passing with a unanimous vote.
Committee OKs bill to whack doctors fees
Saying now is the “right time to do the right thing,” Sen. Alan Hays successfully maneuvered a bill that would limit how much doctors can charge or repackaged drugs in the workers compensation system.
Cat Fund, Citizens need reform
The end of the year is often a time of reflection. Looking back on 2011, Florida, thankfully, avoided a hurricane landfall for an unprecedented sixth consecutive year. While this string of good luck won’t last indefinitely, the new year brings about an opportunity to reform Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund …
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Florida capital briefs: Supreme court rules against hospital on documents
The Florida Supreme Court today rejected arguments by a Pensacola hospital in a legal battle about turning over documents to an injured woman’s attorneys.
