Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill (SB 1298) to increase the salaries of Judges of Compensation Claims (JCCs) to that of county court judges passed its second Senate committee on February 13, 2020. The bill was amended to conform to the House bill. Both House and Senate bills have one committee left. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 799 and HB 801 revamp Florida’s trade secret protection laws. The bills cleared their last committee on February 13, 2020 and will now be heard on the House floor when set by the Rules Committee. Legislation revamping Florida’s trade secret laws were proposed the past few Sessions. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1409 creates a public records exemption for certain sensitive business information held by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) which current law already protects from public records disclosure requirements if held by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). Disclosure of the exempted information, which includes Own-Risk and Solvency…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 351 expands the current law on direct primary care agreements by allowing podiatrists to enter into these agreements with individuals. Current law only allows allopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians, chiropractic physicians, nurses, or dentists to use direct primary care agreements. The bill also changes other regulations for podiatrists,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Brandes (R) had to temporarily postpone the vote on his omnibus insurance bill on February 11, 2020 when he did not have the votes to pass the bill. Sen. Lee (R) is the swing vote in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee and in a heated debate on…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The goal of SB 1516 is to increase the number of organ donors in Florida. The bill contains one health insurance related provision. That provisions prohibits health insurance policies from excluding coverage under a preexisting condition provision solely because the insured is an organ donor. Another part of…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Bills specifying the evidence juries hear for the value of past, present, or future medical expenses used to set damages in personal injury lawsuits are moving this year. The House bill cleared its first committee two weeks ago and has two committees left. The Senate bill cleared its…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1205 deals with disclosures from health care providers to patients when the cash price for a covered medical service is cheaper than the patient’s cost sharing obligation under health insurance. The bill is one of a large number of House health care reform bills designed to further Speaker…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1556 and HB 1179 prohibit specified entities from denying, refusing to allocate, or lowering an individual’s priority for organ transplant medical services solely on the basis of an individual’s intellectual or developmental disability. The insurance part of the bills prohibits insurers, nonprofit health care service plans, and health…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Health and Human Services Committee approved HB 955 during its meeting on February 12, 2020 without amendment. This was the last committee stop for the bill so it will now be heard on the House floor when set by the Rules Committee. The bill curtails physician referrals…