Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 23 is described by the bill sponsor as a way to solve the health care provider workforce shortage in Florida. It allows Florida licensed health care providers to use telehealth within their scope of practice. It also allows out-of-state providers to use telehealth if they register. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 754, by Sen. Stewart (D), passed its second committee on March 18, 2019. The bill was not amended though the bill sponsor said she was working on an amendment to deal with the deductible. The bill prohibits the shops or an employee of the shop to offer…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A stand-alone bill to standardize first party and third party bad faith claims passed its first House committee on March 13, 2019 with an amendment that substantially revamped the original bill. By a vote of 11-5, the House Civil Justice Subcommittee approved HB 751. It has two more committees…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A sweeping medical malpractice bill (PCB CJS 19-02) to reverse some of the recent Florida Supreme Court decisions on medical malpractice passed its first committee on March 13, 2019. The recent Supreme Court cases undid some of the med mal reforms enacted by the Legislature in 2003. The med…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 7 expands direct primary care and is a priority bill of the House. By expanding direct primary care to more specialized medical services, the bill meets Speaker Oliva’s goal of increasing health care options to Floridians in order to reduce health care costs. The House Health & Human…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 759 and HB 761 revamp Florida’s trade secret protection laws. They passed their second committee on March 14, 2019 without amendment. The bills are now in its last House committee. The Senate companion bills (SB 1414 and SB 1416) are similar and have not yet been heard in…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Committees in the House and Senate approved each chamber’s insurance omnibus bill during meetings this week. The Senate advanced their insurance omnibus bill (SB 714) on March 11, 2019 after amending it. Two days later, the House advanced their bill (HB 301) after amending the civil remedy notice…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel With the bill sponsoring citing privacy concerns, the House moved its genetic testing prohibition bill (HB 879) out of its first committee on March 13, 2019 with a vote of 11-3. The dissenting votes were from three of the five Democrats on the committee. The Senate version (SB 258)…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A rule proposed by the Division of Workers’ Compensation (Division) to implement last year’s legislation authorizing first responders to receive workers’ compensation benefits for PTSD without a physical injury will be ratified if HB 983 becomes law. The rule specifies the types of third party injuries that qualify as…