She has a point. This is a match of huge money from both sides. Insurance Money versus Trial Lawyer Money, and guess who is the big loser EVERY SINGLE TIME. Average Joe. Wish Politicians could go back to the original intention and be a voice of their constituents as opposed to their campaign donors.
There is no magic solution, yet the politicians seem to think there must be. They want policyholders to be guaranteed of the same coverage, they want the lawyers and the water mitigation companies who are lobbying them to be guaranteed of the same incredible income, they want to tell consumers that rates are absolutely not going to rise no matter what. So what is their solution? A new bill that says insurance companies (that are all losing vast sums in south Florida) may not increase rates as a result of AOB’s and instead must “simply use their profits” to pay for the AOB’s. Awesome solution, everybody wins (except the insurance companies)…except there are no profits in Florida right now. It really is not rocket science. If you want the AOB abuse to continue in South Florida you are doing the opposite of what you need to do, do fix rates, let the market fully operate. Remove all price controls and let the market price for the AOB abuse and see if the people of south Florida want to keep paying for AOB’s. It will be more than a 10% per year increase, that is simply the cap. Let’s see what the market is and then lets see if people want these AOB’s or if the people (not the lawmakers) run them out of town.
I would agree that there is no magic solution. On the other hand there must some steps, no matter how small, that can be taken to lessen this problem. Right now, insureds are signing AOB’s at time of loss because they’re duped and don’t know better, and then an attorney reports the claim 3 weeks later. The insured has only 3 days to escape the AOB. The rules are not in the insureds favor. These public adjusters and slimy water restoration companies catch insureds at their most vulnerable moment when their house is flooded and they need help. We can educate but often a lot of time passes between correspondence with clients and claims occurrence.
With over two decades in the industry, right now in south Florida, I can honestly say, I would welcome honest Public Adjusters over the legal abuses the industry is seeing in South Florida currently. It is not Public Adjusters, that is, unless it is the very few who may be somehow linked to the small group of lawyers creating the mess. It is Florida’s one way legal fee system that (is supposed to) allow an insured to recover all their legal fees if they recover one dime as a result of legal action. But now with AOBs that “right” is conveyed to an attorney group who is in the business of creating legal fees. So they obtain a right of action (they don’t care about the benefit itself) they sue and it is far cheaper for a lawyer to sue than for an insurance company to defend. Then if they win a dime they get all their fees. And all the “disputes” are on overbilling. So they are bound to be awarded something. As long as lawmakers will not tackle the hard questions legislatively there is no solution. You either ban it, strip these third parties of the legal fees as they have no right or you remove artificial market limitations. They are choosing to make it worse which will force everyone to Citizens and make it a taxpayer problem.
She has a point. This is a match of huge money from both sides. Insurance Money versus Trial Lawyer Money, and guess who is the big loser EVERY SINGLE TIME. Average Joe. Wish Politicians could go back to the original intention and be a voice of their constituents as opposed to their campaign donors.
Nothing new here, just another politician in the pockets of a lobbying group.
There is no magic solution, yet the politicians seem to think there must be. They want policyholders to be guaranteed of the same coverage, they want the lawyers and the water mitigation companies who are lobbying them to be guaranteed of the same incredible income, they want to tell consumers that rates are absolutely not going to rise no matter what. So what is their solution? A new bill that says insurance companies (that are all losing vast sums in south Florida) may not increase rates as a result of AOB’s and instead must “simply use their profits” to pay for the AOB’s. Awesome solution, everybody wins (except the insurance companies)…except there are no profits in Florida right now. It really is not rocket science. If you want the AOB abuse to continue in South Florida you are doing the opposite of what you need to do, do fix rates, let the market fully operate. Remove all price controls and let the market price for the AOB abuse and see if the people of south Florida want to keep paying for AOB’s. It will be more than a 10% per year increase, that is simply the cap. Let’s see what the market is and then lets see if people want these AOB’s or if the people (not the lawmakers) run them out of town.
I would agree that there is no magic solution. On the other hand there must some steps, no matter how small, that can be taken to lessen this problem. Right now, insureds are signing AOB’s at time of loss because they’re duped and don’t know better, and then an attorney reports the claim 3 weeks later. The insured has only 3 days to escape the AOB. The rules are not in the insureds favor. These public adjusters and slimy water restoration companies catch insureds at their most vulnerable moment when their house is flooded and they need help. We can educate but often a lot of time passes between correspondence with clients and claims occurrence.
And this is why Donald Trump will be a great President. He’s no Politician, Lawyer, or in the pockets of Lobbyists. They should ask him what to do!!!
With over two decades in the industry, right now in south Florida, I can honestly say, I would welcome honest Public Adjusters over the legal abuses the industry is seeing in South Florida currently. It is not Public Adjusters, that is, unless it is the very few who may be somehow linked to the small group of lawyers creating the mess. It is Florida’s one way legal fee system that (is supposed to) allow an insured to recover all their legal fees if they recover one dime as a result of legal action. But now with AOBs that “right” is conveyed to an attorney group who is in the business of creating legal fees. So they obtain a right of action (they don’t care about the benefit itself) they sue and it is far cheaper for a lawyer to sue than for an insurance company to defend. Then if they win a dime they get all their fees. And all the “disputes” are on overbilling. So they are bound to be awarded something. As long as lawmakers will not tackle the hard questions legislatively there is no solution. You either ban it, strip these third parties of the legal fees as they have no right or you remove artificial market limitations. They are choosing to make it worse which will force everyone to Citizens and make it a taxpayer problem.
Blue collar criminals get jail time.
White collar criminals get PR firms.