Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate will mandate health insurance coverage for children’s hearing aids under a bill approved on April 1, 2019 by the Senate Health Policy Committee. The bill has one committee left. Currently, there is no mandated health insurance coverage for hearing aids for children. SB 572 would change that…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House tort reform bill was significantly pared down during its second committee hearing on March 28, 2019. The pared down version passed with a 13-7 vote. HB 17 originally dealt with products liability, calculation of medical damages, and a cap on noneconomic damages (e.g., damages for pain and…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Judiciary Committee approved the AOB bill when it met on March 28, 2019 with a 14-3 vote. This was the last committee stop for the bill which will now be heard on the House floor when set by the Rules Committee. A strike all amendment (862613) was…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House omnibus insurance bill cleared its last committee on March 28, 2019 when the House Commerce Committee approved it. Multiple amendments were adopted to HB 301 by the Commerce Committee. The amendments added a significant number of new issues to the bill. Some of the new issues were filed…
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 over 35 types of Florida licensed health care providers to use telehealth within their scope of practice. It also allows out-of-state providers to use telehealth if…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 111, expands the scope of practice for pharmacists in two different ways. One, it allows pharmacists to test for, screen for, and treat the flu, strep, and other non-chronic health conditions such as lice, skin conditions, and minor uncomplicated infections. The protocols for pharmacists testing and treating these…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 387, a bill dealing with surplus lines, passed the House on March 27, 2019 and will be sent to the Senate for consideration and approval. The bill was initially set for its first floor hearing on March 27th with no vote set to be taken, but the House…
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 bill changes all statutory references…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House voted its workers’ comp reform bill out of its first committee on March 26, 2019 when the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee unanimously passed the bill. The Senate bill was set for its first committee hearing this week, but it was postponed, allegedly because the sponsor…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1363, the House frozen formulary bill, was amended in committee on March 26, 2019 to lock in the pricing of drugs on the formulary for the plan year to prevent drug companies from taking advantage of the frozen formulary by increasing drug prices during the plan year when…