Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 322 by Sen. Simpson (R) related to health insurance preexisting conditions passed the Senate Health Policy Committee on March 4, 2019 with one technical amendment. The Senate bill is now in its last committee. The bill generally requires health insurers and HMOs to offer at least one comprehensive…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A strike all amendment to the Senate AOB bill, SB 122, was released Friday afternoon. The amendment (link #306982) was filed by Sen. Broxson, the bill sponsor, and is the result of discussions with other Senators and the industry. Additional changes could be made at later committee stops. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On March 1, 2019, Sen. Perry (R) filed SB 1636 dealing with workers’ compensation. Although the bill is not as comprehensive as workers’ comp reform bills filed in past Sessions, it deals with the attorney fee issue which is a large cost driver in workers’ compensation. The bill does…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 76 makes distracted driving as a primary traffic offense, meaning law enforcement can pull a vehicle over if the driver is seen committing the offense. Driving while distracted is defined to include a number of physical activities which cause driver distractions in addition to the handheld use of…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 20, 2019, the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee passed a committee substitute for HB 537, a bill dealing with how the Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association (FWCJUA) handles unclaimed dividends and premium refunds. Under the bill, the FWCJUA can retain unclaimed dividends or premium refunds…
By: Greenberg Traurig The House Civil Justice Subcommittee met on February 20, 2019 to hear the presentations and discussion on tort reform, medical malpractice reform, and insurer bad faith reform by: Cary Silverman, American Tort Reform Association, Shook, Hardy, & Bacon, Washington, D.C. Bob White, The Doctors Company, Jacksonville, FL David Corum, Insurance Research Council,…