Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On August 27, 2018, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) filed for a 13.4% rate decrease for Florida effective January 1, 2019. Last year the OIR approved a rate decrease of 9.5%. This year’s filing is based on experience data from policy years 2015 and 2016 with the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) is holding a second rule development workshop on proposed rules relating to the registration of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) by OIR. The workshop is set for September 12, 2018. The first workshop was held in May 2018. A copy of the latest…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On August 20, 2018, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) held a rule workshop on proposed changes to their reimbursement contract rule and the actual reimbursement contract with its addendums. The FHCF will accept written comments on the proposed changes until August 24, 2018. They plan to submit the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Bills related to the health insurance issues of direct primary care (HB 37) and pharmacy benefit managers (HB 351) take effect on July 1, 2018. Both bills were passed during the 2018 legislative session. Direct Primary Care BillHB 37 specifies that a direct primary care agreement is…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Department of Financial Services (DFS) agency bill, HB 1073, takes effect on July 1, 2018. The bill has insurance and non-insurance provisions in it. The insurance provisions in the bill relate to managing general agent (MGA) licensure, exchange of business, life agent, and other insurance laws as…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 875 takes effect on July 1, 2018. The bill passed during the 2018 legislative session and further clarifies when the date of completion of a construction contract is for purposes of both the statute of limitations and statute of repose. It provides that a construction contract is complete…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 483 to enrolled bill allows insurers and insurance agents to give additional types of promotional and advertising gifts and changes the amount of these gifts to $100/year, rather than $25/gift. The bill was passed during the 2018 legislative session and takes effect on July 1, 2018. The bill…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 533 to enrolled bill, passed during the 2018 legislative session, takes effect on July 1, 2018. The bill allows an insurer to condition the sale of insurance on the purchase of motor vehicle services if such services are purchased from a membership organization that as of January 1,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sha’Ron James, Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate (ICA), recently released the report of the Emergency Medical Transportation Working Group. The Group was formed in 2016 by the ICA to assess the impact of air and ground emergency transportation costs to consumers in Florida. The Group was composed of stakeholders…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Division of Workers’ Compensation (Division) held a rule workshop on May 30, 2018 related to proposed rules for reimbursement disputes between health care providers and carriers. The reimbursement dispute rules are used by the Division to resolve disputes between workers’ compensation carriers and health care providers. By…