Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Last week, Rep. Santiago, vice chair of the House Insurance Committee, filed HB 97 which restructures part of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF). The 2018 bill proposes fewer changes to the FHCF than the 2017 FHCF restructuring bill (which did not pass). Following are some of the highlights…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Farmer filed a very unfriendly workers’ comp bill on September 5, 2017. SB 258 prohibits attorney fees paid in workers’ comp cases from being included in the insurer’s rate base and used to justify a rate or rate change. This is a major issue for the trial bar…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Farmer filed a very unfriendly bill relating to insurance rate setting on September 5, 2017. SB 258 prohibits attorney fees paid under the one-way attorney fee statute (s. 627.428) in insurance cases from being included in the insurer’s rate base and used to justify a rate or rate…
By Greenberg Traurig NCCI Makes Workers’ Compensation Filing for Rate Decrease On Monday, August 28, 2017, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (“NCCI”) submitted a filing to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) in which NCCI recommended an average premium decrease of 9.6 percent, effective January 1, 2018. The proposal comes in the wake…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On August 18, 2017, the Telehealth Advisory Council (Council) met in Orlando to discuss their recommendations relating to telehealth. The Council was created by legislation enacted in 2016. Its task is to survey health care facilities, HMOs, health care practitioners, and health insurers about telehealth and research telehealth issues. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Starting January 1, 2019, SB 162 prohibits health insurers and HMOs from retroactively denying a claim, if at any time, the insurer or HMO verified the eligibility of an insured or subscriber at the time of treatment and provided an authorization number. Sen. Steube is the sponsor of…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Lee has again filed a PIP repeal bill, SB 150, to be considered during the 2018 Session which begins in January 2018. He was also the bill sponsor in 2017. A House bill on this issue has not been filed yet. This year’s Senate bill repeals mandatory PIP…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During the August 16th Cabinet meeting, Insurance Commissioner Altmaier presented the OIR’s 2018 legislative agenda to the Florida Cabinet. The only issue on the agenda was assignment of benefits (AOB) reform indicating the regulator believes that AOB reform is the most critical issue facing Florida’s insurers. In fact, Commissioner…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel At the August 16th Cabinet meeting, in response to a question from Governor Scott, Insurance Commissioner Altmaier expressed support for legislative changes to deal with the increasing use of assignment of benefits (AOBs) in auto glass/windshield claims. He noted there is more litigation involving AOBs on auto coverage…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill, SB 126, loosening the requirements for first responders to have compensable mental or nervous injuries for workers’ compensation has been filed again in the Senate for 2018. The bill is in response to the denial of mental health benefits under workers’ comp to emergency personnel who responded…