Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant Legislation simplifying the transfer of residential insurance policies to a parent insurer or other company –similar to the law on auto policies now – was approved by the Senate Commerce & Tourism Committee March 27. The House bill is scheduled for the full House March 29. The legislation would make…
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant SB 850 Public Housing Authority Insurance — by RousonRouson amendment: PDF Legislation expanding groups allowed to form a public housing authority self-insurance fund was approved by the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee March 27. It now has cleared insurance committees in the House and Senate, although it still is before…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The recent decision by the Florida Supreme Court in Wells Fargo v. Pruco Life Insurance, a STOLI case decided unfavorably to life insurers, may be overturned by a bill passed by both the House and Senate Insurance Committees on March 27, 2017. In this regard, the bill allows…
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant SB 800 Medication Synchronization — by BroxsonAmendment 445314, Broxson [PDF] HB 1191 Medication Synchronization — by CruzAmendment 689821 Cruz [PDF] A bill (CS/SB 800, CS/HB 1191) promoting partial refills and synchronization of prescription drugs advanced March 27 through the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee and House Health Innovation Subcommittee.…
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant HB 579 Payment of Health Care Claims — by HagerAmendment by Hager [PDF] An important House panel, the Health Innovation Subcommittee, on March 27 voted to ban retroactive denial of health insurance claims once authorization is given to doctors, despite warnings from the Florida Insurance Council that responsible policyholders…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The bill dealing with collection of assessments for long term care insurance due to the Penn Treaty insolvency passed its first committee on March 27, 2017. The House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee passed the proposed committee substitute (PCS) for HB 1273 that was released on Thursday, March 23,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel With the bill sponsor saying she would consider bad faith reform in her PIP repeal bill but only if a rate rollback was also included, the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee passed the proposed committee substitute for HB 1063 with a technical amendment. The Subcommittee spent over an hour…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Currently, preinsurance motor vehicle inspections are only required in seven counties in Florida. A recent study of the preinsurance inspection program by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) found the program cost insurers over $12M and reduced premiums for policyholders only by $35,640, a bad return on investment for…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1029 relates to the merchandise gifts insurers are allowed to give to insureds, prospective insureds, or others for advertising. Under current law, insurers or agents can offer and make gifts of merchandise up to $25 per gift for advertising purposes without violating the unfair trade practices act. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill, HB 617, requiring pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) to obtain a certificate of authority (COA) from the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) to operate as a third party administrator and to require quarterly audits of each PBM regarding updates to maximum allowable cost (MAC) pricing information passed its…