Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Bills for the 2017 Session are being filed daily. Following is a summary of bills related to workers’ compensation insurance filed as of February 17, 2017 that FIC is following. Please note a bill (SB 1008) making comp claimants’ personal information confidential and exempt from Florida’ s public…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel AOB reform is the top priority of the FIC Property Committee. On February 17, 2017, the first AOB bill was filed for the 2017 Session. The bill, SB 1038, was filed by Sen. Hukill and is primarily the work product of OIR and Citizens, although the insurance industry is…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 16, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion (SC15-1257) limiting the permissible pre-suit discovery for insurers in PIP to the production of documents related to the history, condition, treatment, dates, and costs of medical treatment. The Court opined an insurer is not entitled to other discovery…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee unanimously approved HB 377 on February 16, 2017 with one substantive amendment that rewrote the bill. The amendment can be found here. The bill specifies when a construction contract is considered complete for purposes of the statute of repose and statute of…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill creating recovery care centers, HB 145, passed its first committee on February 15, 2017 without amendment. The bill has two committees left. The bill creates recovery care centers for postsurgical and post diagnostic care for admission up to 72 hours and provides protocols for recovery care centers.…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 15, 2017, the House Health Quality Subcommittee unanimously passed the direct primary care bill, HB 161, with one amendment. The House bill has two committees left. The bill specifies that a direct primary care agreement is not insurance and is not subject to the Florida Insurance Code. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 15, 2017, the House Health Quality Subcommittee chaired by Dr. Pigman, an emergency room physician, adopted wide ranging telehealth regulations as part of their committee bill on health care access. The vote on the bill was 10-3. The three no votes were cast by Reps. Jones, Mercado…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee had a second panel discussion about workers’ compensation on February 8, 2017. This was the last panel discussion the committee will have on workers’ compensation. Like the last committee meeting on comp, panelists were provided topics and subtopics by committee staff to frame…
By: Greenberg Traurig On February 8, 2017, the House Health Innovation Subcommittee meeting focused on direct primary care and the prescription drug pricing website run by AHCA. Please note there is a bill already filed this Session, HB 589, to increase the number of drugs listed on the website from 100 to 300 and to…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House TNC bill (HB 221), a priority of the FIC Auto Committee, passed its first committee on February 8, 2017 by a vote of 14-1. The committee ranking minority member providing the lone vote in opposition to the bill. The bill was not amended in committee and has…