In preparation for March sessions of the Florida Legislature, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America hosted its first annual Legislative Conference, which brought insurance industry executives to Tallahassee, Fla., to discuss legislative priorities and to hear from Senate President Tom Lee, House Speaker Allan Bense, House Rules Chairman and Speaker-designate Marco Rubio, and other members of the House leadership. PCI members also heard Department of Financial Services Chief of Staff Lisa Miller and Office of Insurance Regulation Chief of Staff David Foy.
“Legislation addressing property insurance and the sunset of the no-fault automobile insurance system will be front-burner issues this session,” William Stander, assistant vice president and regional manager for PCI said. “Enduring eight hurricanes in two years has placed tremendous strain on the insurance regulatory system, insurers, the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, and the state-run insurance company, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. During this session it is critical that lawmakers pursue policies that promote open competition because this is the only solution that will make insurance more affordable and available in Florida.”
The state’s no-fault insurance system will also vie for attention. The no-fault law will be repealed unless re-enacted by the Legislature this session. Last fall, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee conducted a study of the no-fault law to assess how the system was working in Florida compared to automobile insurance systems in other states. The report looked at affordability, availability, provision of benefits including litigation costs, adequacy of coverage and loss costs.
It concluded that Florida’s no-fault system has serious problems, though not at a crisis level. The report noted that high medical costs and utilization of medical services continues to drive personal injury protection costs. In addition, incidents of PIP fraud and abuse, primarily involving health care fraud are at an all time high.
Topics Florida Carriers Legislation
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